


The Weapon

by WordCollector



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angry Bucky, Blood, Gen, Hurt Bucky, Movie Style Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-16 10:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2267061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordCollector/pseuds/WordCollector
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fall of SHIELD, Black Widow is on a routine mission to destroy a Hydra Base and encounters the Winter Soldier. Can she keep him captive long enough to get him to Avengers Tower, and Steve Rogers, or is the deadly "Asset" too dangerous?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Pistol in each hand, Black Widow silently worked her way down the hall. She had already placed a device that would blow this underground Hydra base sky high. Now, she was systematically working her way through the corridors, swiftly eliminating Hydra agents as they blocked her from her goal. 

Hydra still had many bases scattered all over the world. She and a few others hand picked by Nick Fury had been removing them as they were found. It was hard work without Shield’s assistance.

Natasha started out in Europe, trying to recover from having all of her aliases blown. She changed her hair, made it darker and got a new short cut. After a month in Europe she returned to the United States and was helping remove Hydra bases on the east coast. 

This base in West Virginia was said to house a large weapons cache. Black Widow had already found the weapons cache and planted the incendiary device right in the middle. Last week, Fury sent word the interrogation of a Hydra agent uncovered that Hydra had moved a class 5 weapon to this location. A class 5 weapon was one of their more dangerous classifications. So far Natasha had just found a room full of dangerous weapons. But nothing inside was Class 5. 

She was beginning to think that the report was wrong, or the weapon had been moved, when she came around the corner. The Hydra agents guarding the door at the end of the hall were two bruisers in full Hydra armor. They were armed with the best Hydra weaponry. She quickly threw two tazer disks at them, and one of the Hydra goons went down immediately. The other raised his weapon and fired, missing Natasha by a hair, and singeing the sleeve of her right arm as she jumped across the distance. She closed in on the goon. His size and weight were used against him. She tipped him forward throwing him off balance, and finishing him off with a kick and a blast of the Widows Bite. 

The shot the goon fired off would alert the whole base. She hoped this room would hold the class 5 weapon so she could throw a grenade inside and report that it was destroyed before she got out. 

When she opened the door she was startled by what was in the room. It was completely empty except for the person in black hog tied in the middle of the room.

He lie on his side wearing mechanized manacles that extended from his elbows to wrist, and his feet were bound to the manacles behind him. As she approached she noticed a bloody smear and handprints on the wall. It didn’t look like the prisoner went quietly, she guessed that was why he was hog tied. Steve might have been right, maybe the Winter Soldier didn’t want to go back to Hydra.

She knew they didn’t have much time, they had to get out now. 

“Hey” she said as she got close. “I’m going to release your legs. If you kick me I will leave your ass here.” 

He stared at her under the fall of his thick hair. 

When he didn’t respond she asked, “Did you understand me?”

He nodded. As she began to unlatch his legs she could hear the Hydra agents coming down the hall. She also noted that his right boot heel was crusted in blood. He must have one hell of a kick, she thought as she released his feet. 

She pulled him to his feet, leaving the manacles on. He wobbled a little, even with Hydra’s enhancements, he would need a few seconds to get his feet under him after being hog tied. She had no idea how long he was in the room like that. 

She went to the side of the door and began to fire at Hydra agents as they tried to advance down the corridor. At this point, she just needed to get out, no need to be quiet. The bomb would go off in less than five minutes. She quickly cleared the hall using a grenade, and pulling the Winter Soldier after her, headed for the exit.

More Hydra agents tried to attack, and Widow smoothly and quickly eliminated each threat. Eventually they made it outside the underground bunker.

Hydra agents were outside firing at them as they exited. Widow was having a one shot one kill ratio in the last ten minutes that even impressed herself. 

They sprinted for cover as Widow fired at the Agents. They needed distance from the base before the whole thing went up. They were still within the kill zone. It didn’t matter if the Hydra agents didn’t shoot them if they were killed by the explosion in the end. 

Widow checked her watch, grabbed the Winter Soldier by the arms and threw him to the ground behind a big tree. She landed right on top of him as the explosion went off shaking the ground and leaving them in a dusty haze of smoke, scorched trees and burning brush. Her ears were ringing, and vision was limited by the thick smoke. She stood and pulled the Winter Soldier back to his feet.

There was a Hydra SUV parked in the tree-line Widow saw on her run out of the kill zone. A dead Hydra agent lay over the hood, shrapnel from the blast in his chest. She pulled him off, and climbed in the drivers seat, hot wiring the vehicle. Bucky stood by the car door, blankly staring at the damage around them. Natasha looked up when the engine started. “Get in” she barked at him. As he rounded the front of the car, she leaned across the SUV and popped his door open. He climbed in and before he had fully settled Widow floored the accelerator and the door slammed closed as the vehicle jumped forward. 

They bounced down the dirt road at a fast pace, taking corners way too fast. As they rounded a bend the tires lost their grip and the SUV began to fishtail almost sending them down a into a ditch. Natasha never slowed, even after the near miss. Eventually, they were on a paved road and flying along. 

Soon after they hit the paved road she flew into a side road and screeched to a halt. Then she leaned over and attached a taser disk device to each of the Winter Soldier’s arms. They could be remotely activated if he caused her any trouble. 

Quickly they were back on the road. Natasha knew that many HYDRA vehicles had a tracking device built in. They needed to get rid of it. 

Up ahead was a busy tractor supply business with a mostly full parking lot. They quickly turned into a parking spot, Natasha jumped out and into the pickup truck next to their parking spot. She got the pickup truck started in seconds, and looked over to see The Winter Soldier still in the passenger seat of the SUV watching her. “Move” she yelled, and he kicked the door open, running over to the passenger side of the pickup as she opened the door for him. 

They were immediately out of the lot and down the road heading for the safe house. Eventually, Natasha turned and was back to driving on dirt roads, heading into the forest. Without SHIELD’s resources, former SHIELD agents couldn’t rely on helicopter extraction, they had to get themselves out or somewhere safe. 

After driving for another hour, they came upon an empty warehouse in an isolated area. Natasha looked over at Bucky, he was sitting forward in the seat unable to sit back since his arms were behind him. He looked tired.

Driving up to the empty warehouse, Natasha drove straight into an open bay door. Parking the pickup, she jumped out and closed the heavy garage door. It was a SHIELD safe house.

The warehouse was dusty but well equipped, ready for her to re-supply and recover. Natasha came around and opened the passenger door for the Winter Soldier, pistol in hand. She didn’t know if he was just biding his time to attack her or what his mental state was. Steve was convinced he was a good guy underneath. She wasn’t taking any chances. 

“After you” she said as she pointed to a door and made him lead the way inside. It was a plain room with a couch, old TV, and small closet. Against one wall was a large cast-iron radiator. 

She pointed to the radiator. “Sit” she said. He sat on the radiator. “On the floor” she added. He slid down to the floor, where she attached handcuffs to the radiator and the manacles. Widow eyed his legs, while he stared straight ahead, head sagging. She only had regular handcuffs and didn’t want to hog tie his legs back to the manacles again. Even for someone who shot her twice, it seemed cruel. She left his legs unsecured hoping that he wouldn’t make her regret it.

Natasha went to the supply closet where she slid away an empty box and pulled out the false bottom. It had a week’s supply of meals, bottled water, medical kit and a complete re-supply of weapons. She pulled some of the supplies over by the couch and began to go through the weapons, keeping an eye on the Winter Soldier. She reloaded and cleaned her glocks then re-holstered them, ready incase the Winter Soldier tried anything.

The Winter Soldier looked dirty from the explosion, and he was unshaven. He stared at her every move. Just his eyes moved, and it made her nervous. She knew how deadly he was. She also knew there was a report of him at the Smithsonian a few weeks ago, he hadn’t gone right back to HYDRA. From what she saw it didn’t look like he was with HYDRA willingly at all.

Steve had been so focused on finding his buddy Bucky Barnes, and Natasha found him by accident. She wondered if it was an accident, or did Fury send her there knowing Bucky was there. She thought he probably wouldn’t want to send Steve. Maybe sending her was the safer route. Steve would be too emotionally involved in this, he could meet with Bucky after they were somewhere safe. 

She was deep in thought as she counted out rounds, inspected clips, checked and wiped down handguns and adjusted holsters. Bucky continued to stare blankly at her, but when she absentmindedly reached for a bottle of water his eyes widened and he licked his bottom lip.

“Hey, you want some water?” She asked. 

He nodded, and Natasha cautiously approached with the bottle. She had to hold it for him because she was not going to release his hands. He was too dangerous. She paused a few times, and each time asked “More?” and each time he nodded yes until the bottle was finished. 

Then she asked “Are you hungry?” He nodded yes to this too.

She tore open an MRE and debated feeding him the components, or releasing his arms and letting him feed himself. She looked at him for a few minutes, then remembered his bloody boot and the blood on the wall. The Winter Soldier could do a lot of damage with just his legs, she definitely didn’t want to be near the cybernetic arm. 

He just sat unmoving with only his eyes flicking from her face to her hands with the MRE. Eventually she just fed him the MRE, keeping herself to the side of his legs, out of boot striking distance.

After he finished the entire MRE, she settled back on the couch and ate her own meal. As she ate her meal she noticed Bucky’s eyelids were drooping. His head nodded a few times before settling on his chest.

Natasha cleared her throat and his head snapped up again, eyes open. 

“You should lie down” she said to him. He nodded once and looked around at the floor to his sides, then shifted his legs around and slid onto his left side. He stared at her for a while then his eyes again slid closed and stayed that way. 

Natasha did not want to fall asleep alone with him here. She continued checking the gear, stowed the items she knew she wasn’t taking with her, and packed the things she was. Eventually she was finished and just relaxed on the couch for a while. The room was quiet, the only sounds were the Winter Soldier’s breathing and outside, crickets with the occasional Bullfrog. 

Suddenly the crickets stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this chapter has quite a bit of blood.

Natasha grabbed a loaded glock in each hand and listened. She noticed the Winter Soldier’s eyes were also open, and he was also scanning the room, watching for intruders. 

Suddenly, a window broke as a grenade came through. Natasha kicked it behind the couch, and jumped on top of the Winter Soldier, protecting him from the blast. The couch blew into bits as foam, wood and fabric flew around the room. Natasha immediately scrambled for the keys to get him loose from the radiator. As she was unlocking the handcuffs that tethered his manacles to the radiator, she was thrown backwards as a second and third grenade blew up in the garage behind the radiator. The explosions blew a dozen fist sized holes in the wall, as shrapnel punched through the plaster. 

Natasha scrambled to finish unlocking the handcuffs, thankful for the cast iron radiator shielding Bucky from the blast. When she went to pull Bucky to his feet she slipped and fell to her knee. There was a pool of blood where a large piece of shrapnel wedged between the fins of the radiator straight into Bucky’s left side. 

When Natasha had tried to lift him, she pulled the metal from his back. Blood was pouring from the large gash. Bucky slid back to the ground, unable to even try to stop the bleeding with his hands behind his back. His eyes followed Natasha. 

The pool of blood spread across the floor as she lunged for the medical kit. Dumping it on the floor, she grabbed the Shield emergency wound sealant. It sprayed on, and stopped the bleeding until the victim could receive medical treatment. Quickly she sprayed on the thick foamy substance, then left him there, slumped in the pool of blood. She had to handle the threat before they were both dead.

She ran to the closet and pulled out a surface to surface missile launcher. She aimed out the broken window and fired a heat guided missile into the Hydra attack force. Natasha still had to handle any Hydra agents that breached the exterior of the building. Luckily there were only four Agents inside, and she made quick work of them. 

Finally, he raced back to Bucky’s side. Surprised he was still conscious, she pulled him up to get him moving into the garage. The Winter Soldier ran along side of her, stumbling a little when she turned him abruptly as they ran dangerously close to the burning pickup. 

Stopping at an empty shelf, Natasha slid back a hidden panel. It revealed a stairwell that led to a room beneath the garage. Inside was a Shield armored SUV. She pushed Bucky into the passenger seat and ran around to the driver’s side. Once inside, she put the vehicle in gear and drove up the ramp right through the metal door. She swerved to avoid the two flaming Hydra vehicles and sped down the road. 

Natasha never turned on the headlights of the vehicle. Instead, she grabbed the night vision goggles in the glove box and put them on. They raced on through the night. After Natasha put many miles between herself and the destroyed safe house, she turned on the headlights and pulled off the NVGs throwing them into the back seat. Bucky was slumped against the door, eyes closed and still. 

Natasha reached over to feel for his pulse. As soon as she touched him, he twitched eyes popping open, and feet coming together. He kicked out towards her. “Stop! Stop!” She said leaning back and trying to get him not to damage the vehicle. He stopped kicking and blearily looked over at her, then his head thumped back against the door’s window. 

He broke part of the center console, but not the lever for the four wheel drive, or the emergency brake. Some of the Shield high-tech gizmos were completely destroyed, but the vehicle could still drive. Natasha was glad the center console had blocked him from being able to kick her. She was also relieved that he stopped when she told him, he was seconds from feeling the Widow’s Bite.

She traveled on for a while, but kept worrying about the wound in Bucky’s side. Eventually, she saw a sign for a motel off the beaten path. She pulled in to the motel parking lot and wiped any blood from her hands. Strolling into the lobby to get a room, she woke the dozing clerk who took her cash and handed her a key. She grabbed a doughnut from the counter on her way back out. 

She parked the car as close to the door of the room as she could get. Each room opened directly outside, so she didn’t have to worry about getting a manacled prisoner down a well lit hallway. After parking, she came around to the passenger door and tapped it a few times to rouse him. He looked around confused, and when she opened the door he slumped bonelessly through the open doorway. 

Natasha was able to catch him before he made it too far, and push him back inside. He was angled the wrong way, his back and arms were toward the door, and she needed to push him in and turn him around. He aided her as much as he could. Then when he was angled with his back to the seat, she was able to get his legs out first. She realized how heavy he was for the first time. Once out, his legs were mostly carrying him, but he still leaned heavily against her. Natasha unlocked the door, and helped him to the bed. He lie on his right side, pulling his legs onto the bed, and trying to shift to avoid putting pressure on the wound, or his arms. 

Turning on the light, she saw for the first time, how pale Bucky had become. The wound was still seeping blood, and his shirt and pants were soaked. 

Immediately, she ran outside and grabbed the medical kit from the SUV. Shield medical kits were equipped for most major combat wounds. She dragged the lamp table to the side of the bed, turned on all of the lights in the room, then flipped the kit open and began pulling out supplies she would need. She started with cutting off his shirt. The wound was about four inches long and seemed deep. It ran parallel to his pants line on his hip, above it by three inches, looking like someone had tried to cut him in half. 

She pulled out the needle and thread and used the back edge of a blade to pull up the wound sealant. Once the wound sealant pulled up, fresh blood ran from the gash. Working quickly she was able to stitch up his side. 

After she finished, she cleaned up the area and bandaged it. She wanted to remove and destroy the sheets and stained clothing, but didn’t want to make Bucky move off of them. Instead she went into the bathroom, and used clean towels to cover the blood stains, so he wasn’t sleeping in a pool of his own blood. 

He was so pale Natasha was worried. He barely stirred as she worked on his side, and now his eyes were closed and he almost looked like he was sleeping. Every so often his eyes would open and blearily look around until he found her. Then he would stare at her for a few seconds before closing them again. 

Bucky kept pulling his legs up towards his chest and shifting. Then he would stretch them down toward the bottom of the bed straightening himself out. He was trying to find a comfortable position. He had to lie on his right with his arms pulled tight behind his back from elbow to wrist, and his side stitched together. His breathing seemed ragged and pained every time he shifted. Finally, Natasha stood and went to the foot of the bed. 

“Don’t make me regret this.” she said to him. His eyes opened a little as he looked over at her. 

“I’m going to take the manacles off. Don’t make me kill you, Okay? Hold still till I get them off.” she said.

“Okay.” he replied quietly.

She then moved around behind him and put her knee on the bed. She reached for the manacles. He flinched as soon as she touched them, making her yank her hands away. “Hold still” she repeated.

Natasha removed the taser disks and manacles from his arms. He hissed out a breath, slowly pulling his arms around to the front. Bucky carefully and slowly rolled onto his back while Natasha climbed off of the bed. His metal hand came around to rub at his right shoulder.

“How long were you wearing those things?” she asked.

“At least few days, a week possibly.” he replied quietly, trying to get his right arm to bend while flexing his fingers.

“Wow, that sucks.” she said, unable to think of a better response. “You should get some rest while you can.” she added.

He didn’t answer, just pulled his right arm across his chest and massaged his shoulder with his left hand. Eventually, his left hand slowed then stopped moving, and she could tell he was sleeping. She sat in the chair next to the bed and stared at him for a while before cleaning up the first aid kit, herself, and her two glocks. The hours passed slowly, and she kept an eye on the road outside through a crack in the curtains. Not much activity happened outside until around five in the morning, when people began to pack up and leave. The motel wasn’t crowded and the activity outside seemed quiet and subdued. 

At six in the morning a truck passed the motel and hit its air brakes, making rumbling sounds that startled Natasha. When she looked over at Bucky he didn’t even stir. She immediately jumped up and went to check his pulse. As soon as her hand was inches from his neck, she froze remembering that he was not restrained. She pulled her hand back and took two steps back. 

“Hey” she said. Bucky’s eyes opened and he immediately struggled to sit up. 

“No, no, lie back down” she said and he slumped back down and looked over at her. “Is there anything you can’t eat?” she asked him. He stared at her looking confused. “Do you have any dietary restrictions?” she asked this time.

“No” he responded.

“I’m gonna get breakfast. Sit tight and don’t move. I’ll be right back.” she said, and she heard his stomach rumble.


	3. Chapter 3

Natasha left Bucky alone in the room. She could see the motel room door from the restaurant across the street, but she knew that she wouldn’t see him if he left. He would only still be there if he wanted to, restraining him again wouldn’t have made a difference.

She ordered breakfast to go, then after paying, told the waitress she was going next door for a second. She walked to a small store, and hit the men's section, buying a black long sleeve shirt, pair of jeans, socks, and pack of underwear. Hopefully she guessed his size closely enough. 

Once she returned to the restaurant, the order was done. She grabbed it and headed back to the room. The Shield SUV was still there. That was a good sign. 

As she crossed the parking lot she scanned the area for anything suspicious. Carefully opening the door, she checked inside, knowing that the Winter Soldier was deadly. She was relieved to see that he was still on the bed, but now sleeping on his stomach. An overturned chair in the room attracted her attention, and she looked to see if anything else was out of place. While she was gone, it looked like he had made his way to the bathroom. There was a bloody smudge on the counter by the sink. He must have knocked the chair over on his way. 

She picked up the chair, and set the bags down on the small table. The plastic bag was noisy in the silent room as she unpacked the plastic forks and Styrofoam containers. The smell of the scrambled eggs made her mouth water. The bed creaked as Bucky moved to see what she was doing. 

“Eggs, sausage and toast.” she announced as she held out the breakfast. 

Bucky pushed himself up. He turned and sat on the edge of the bed with his feet on the floor. He took the breakfast, and had it almost finished before Natasha was done pulling his orange juice from the bag. She held out the orange juice. His focus seemed entirely on the food in his lap. He glanced up and nodded at her while reaching out to take the orange juice. Bucky quickly downed half the orange juice before setting it on the floor next to his boot. 

“Easy, it isn’t a race.” She said while casually opening her meal.

He slowed and watched her while he worked on the remains of the meal. She leisurely ate her food, and turned on the TV in the room, keeping the volume low, and hoping it would change his focus. He never glanced at the TV. She kept him in her line of sight, as she pretended to watch the TV. She didn’t know what Bucky Barnes was like before, but when she looked at him all she saw was the Winter Soldier. His years under Hydra took their toll. Even while he ate, he looked cold, emotionless, like a machine.

“I bought you a change of clothes” she said. He just nodded. “I hope you like black.” she huffed out a laugh since she had only ever seen him in black. He gave no indication he heard her. “Tough room” she mumbled.

He continued to eat, moving the last few bites around more than eating. She could tell it was because she told him to slow down. She poked at her mostly uneaten eggs one more time, and handed him the container. He took it and set it beside him on the bed. He finished his eggs in two bites then wolfed down hers. Once she handed him her breakfast, his focus moved back to the food, and he rarely looked up.

After he finished, she took the containers and threw them in the trash. Then she pointed to the bag of clothes. 

“Change into these. Less blood always attracts less attention. First rule of being on the run.” she said. 

He unbuckled and kicked off his boots, then stepped towards the bag and began to unbutton his pants.

“Hey, bathroom’s in there.” she quickly said before he got too far. 

Soon, he reemerged from the bathroom, looking cleaner. His hair was wet and slicked back, and the new clothes were a relatively good fit, if a little big. On the way into the bathroom, he looked a bit sluggish, but when he came out he stood straight and had more light in his eyes. He was still really pale, but he lost a lot of blood. Even with enhanced healing from whatever Hydra had done to him, it would probably take a little while to recover from that. 

She packed up the room while he changed. Tossing the bloody sheets and towels into a trash bag to take with her. The maid finding stolen sheets is less likely to cause a call to the police, than the room looking like a murder scene. He had his bloody clothes in his hand. She took them and stuffed them into the bag, while he put his boots back on. 

“Let’s go” she said. They were on the highway in minutes, flying down the road. The Winter Soldier was in the passenger seat unrestrained. If they came across Hydra agents, this could be a big mistake. She wasn’t sure whose side he was on. Maybe he didn’t know either.


	4. Chapter 4

While she was driving down a quiet road, through farms of tall green corn, Natasha contacted Avengers Tower. Jarvis informed her that one of Stark’s helicopters would be waiting in a nearby field with someone to take the SUV. Bucky stared out the window during the whole conversation. Natasha made sure they never mentioned any information Hydra shouldn’t get. She knew he was listening.

The shiny helicopter was ready and waiting in the field as they drove up a dusty dirt road. Two men in dark suits were nearby, and came over to take the Shield SUV. Natasha got out first and Bucky followed. His expression stayed blank. He seemed content to simply follow where Natasha led, but she could tell he was cataloging everything from the way his eyes moved. Natasha watched him assessing Stark’s equipment as he boarded and sat.

She hoped she wasn’t bringing a Trojan horse right into the tower. Yet, even if the Winter Soldier was a threat, Tony constantly upgraded the tower security systems. It could handle most serious attacks from aliens, to gods, to anything in-between.

Even Stark’s expensive, luxury, ‘civilian’ helicopter was automated and armed to the teeth. The pilot was just there for show. He wasn’t needed. The thing could fly itself through terminals or combat, it was all the same.

Once on board, the Winter Soldier stared at Natasha as she sat across from him. His eyes rarely left her throughout the flight. He seemed unimpressed by the helicopter, or the scenery around them. Finally, they landed on top of Avengers Tower, and Natasha led him to the elevator.

On the fortieth floor was an entire secure area set up for potentially hostile visitors. When the doors opened Jarvis announced “Your room is ready Ms Romanoff.”

Natasha led Barnes down an empty hall, through a doorway to a modern living room with simple clean lines, and minimal furniture. A tan modern couch, black coffee table, and huge TV mounted into the far wall, dominated the room. The couch was in the middle of the room, angled slightly towards the door.

“Make yourself comfortable, I need a shower.” she said, and she left the room.

Barnes stood for a moment as his eyes swept the room, then went straight to the couch and sat. He leaned back and waited, not bothering to turn the television on.

One floor up, three men sat in the midst of a series of monitors showing the secure room. “What’s he doing?” Clint asked.

“He’s staring at the TV.” Tony replied while moving images on a screen around.

“But it’s off.” Clint said pointing at the image.

“We can see that.” Tony said, “Stop pointing, I’m scanning his arm and you’re in the way.”

Natasha entered, and Bruce looked up and smiled at her, “When does Steve get here?” she asked.

Tony answered her. “In about a half hour. Oh, and nice job bringing Barnes here, Romanoff. Not such a good job checking for weapons, though. He has a serious blade in his sleeve.” 

Widow rolled her eyes, “Yeah, he pulled that out of my equipment this morning. I didn’t think it was important enough to make a fuss over.”

Tony replied, “Well, I usually try to keep the deadly assassins unarmed before bringing them to my tower.” 

Clint looked at Tony, “I thought you said this was Avengers Tower. Not your Tower. Our Tower.”

Natasha ignored Clint “I was in the car with him, not you guys. It was my decision. If you’re scared of the knife, just stay out here. But if you go in there, and he gets ticked, the knife will be the least of your problems.” she turned to leave, “I have just enough time to shower before Steve gets here. I’ll be right back.”

She stopped in the doorway “Seriously guys, don’t go in there.” she said, then walked out.

Bruce looked up from the monitors, “My scans don’t show any signs of tracking devices on him. But it could be masked by the mechanism that powers the arm itself. This Hydra tech is like nothing I’ve seen before.”

Clint quietly asked, “Do you think he remembers Steve?”

“We’ll know soon enough.” Tony said while running scans and moving screens around.

Bruce looked up “Sooner than we thought. They’re here.”

Both Clint and Tony turned. One of the monitors near Bruce showed Sam and Steve’s helicopter landing on the roof.

In his hurry, Steve jumped from the helicopter before it hit the ground, and ignoring the door for the elevator, ran down the stairs. Sam watched Steve, shaking his head. Instead, he waited for the chopper to land, then used the waiting elevator.

Crashing out of the stairwell, Steve headed for the containment area, not the observation room.

“No, No. Where’s he going?” Bruce asked, while standing from his chair.

Tony immediately activated the hall speaker “Wait Steve, don’t rush in there.”

Outside the observation room the elevator door opened and Sam walked to the door, and looked around asking “Where’s Steve?”

They all stood and stared at the monitors as Steve went straight into the containment room that held Bucky.


	5. Chapter 5

The door clicked open and Bucky was across the room in two lightning quick strides. The stolen knife was instantly in his right hand, heading straight at Steve’s throat. Steve deflected the blow and spun them, twisting Bucky’s arm around to push him face first towards the wall. Instead of being pushed into the wall, Bucky used the momentum to continue to rotate and come back around at Steve with his metal arm. 

The punch narrowly missed Steve and went right though into the soft drywall, catching Bucky’s fist momentarily. This was long enough for Steve to jump clear before Bucky struck again. Steve kicked the knife from Bucky’s hand, but Bucky grabbed Steve’s ankle with his powerful left hand and pulled him closer. 

The back of Bucky’s right fist hit Steve square in the nose. He could feel that Bucky wasn’t pulling his punches. Steve connected two quick jabs to Bucky’s right side to make him release the ankle. 

After Steve was free, he jumped backwards, with his hands in front of him. “Whoah, Whoah. Easy Buck” Steve was trying to diffuse the situation, but he could tell from Bucky’s expression that he was getting ready to charge again.

As Bucky began to lunge forward, the door opened and Natasha yelled “Stop!” 

Bucky froze in place, turned his head towards the door then straightened. Natasha was dripping wet from the shower, and dressed in black sweats. “I am too tired for this. I have been awake for 3 days and can’t even take a shower in peace.” she growled, pointing at Bucky and Steve. 

Steve jumped in “Don’t blame Bucky, I think I surprised him...”

Natasha cut him off “Oh, I don’t blame him. Come on Steve. What were you thinking? Never mind, we can talk about this later.”

Steve didn’t wait though, asking Bucky, “I thought that since you were here, you remembered me. You remember right?”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed. He stared straight at Steve, “I remember you from the helicarriers, you reprogrammed them with a virus.”

“I had hoped you remembered before that.” Steve gave a half smile.

“You were my mission on the highway, and before that Director Nick Fury tried to evade me in your apartment. You gave chase after I eliminated the target”

“Okay” Steve sighed looking a little disappointed. “But,..”

Natasha cut in “That’s enough for now. Steve, lets regroup for a second out in the hall.” Then, to Bucky she said “Wait here.” while pointing at the couch.

Steve couldn’t stop himself “But, you were seen at the Smithsonian, in the exhibit about us.” He said to Bucky. 

Bucky replied “Yes” staring Steve in the eyes. He didn’t elaborate any further, or move towards the couch. 

“Okay, enough” Natasha said. She then noticed there was a slowly spreading wet red patch above Bucky’s right hip, seeping bright scarlet across the top of his blue jeans. “Crap, I should have gotten you to the medical unit first. I keep forgetting you super soldier types are able to ignore stuff that would take down normal people.” 

“What happened?” Steve asked as he was leading the way to the medical unit, “I didn’t think I hit him that hard. Was he hurt?”

“First Barnes, follow me.” Natasha said talking to Bucky, “and Steve you, go play with the other boys.”

Steve frowned and said “Okay” then headed out the door, up the hall in the other direction, glancing back as he walked towards the observation room.

Bucky followed Natasha to the Medical area of the tower. It was staffed with doctors who were already set up, awaiting their new patient. Bucky stopped at the doorway to the medical wing. This is the first time Natasha noticed a hesitant response from Bucky . He backed up a step, and was suddenly checking both directions of the hall. She knew this could turn ugly fast. 

“Come on in, the doctors are going to stitch up your side. This is Doctor Sandra Stone. She is going to help you out.” Natasha tried to sound soothing, but Bucky was still in the hall, and took another step back.

“Hey easy, they are just going to help you, maybe give you some fluids. You got hit by big piece of shrapnel at the safe house, remember. You really bled all over that hotel room too.” She tried to get him in the room. “We just want to help you, James.”

He had stopped looking up and down the hall, instead he focused on Natasha and stepped into the room. She had gestured to the doctors to move back, and they watched from a safe distance as she guided him over onto one of the medical beds. 

Once he was seated on the bed she waved Dr. Stone over. She reintroduced them and told Bucky to relax, everything was going to be fine. His eyes still looked unsure. He was definitely not relaxed, but he allowed the Doctor to do the things she needed to do, even listening to her as she had him move around to get to the wound.

As the Doctor was finishing up, and Bucky was lying back getting fluids from an IV, he reached out and touched Natasha’s hand.

“The man, Captain America, how do you know him?” He asked.

She was surprised by the question. “Why? Do you remember Steve?”

“I remember a Steve Rogers. They have almost the same face.” He said while staring at the ceiling. “Could they be the same man?”

“Yeah.” Natasha answered.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony became bored when they began stitching up Bucky. He left with Bruce to discuss some of the readings from the power signature on Bucky’s arm. Clint was sitting in a chair in the corner twirling a pencil, while Steve and Sam sat by a monitor watching Bucky. 

Steve was more than a little hurt that Bucky was listening to Natasha. “He pulled me out of the river, then tries to gut me back there. What was that?” he asked Sam. 

Sam shrugged his shoulders.

Clint jumped in “There could be a million reasons. Maybe you surprised him, maybe he was brainwashed, maybe he thinks you screwed up his murder to escape ratio, who knows..”

“That was not helpful” Steve answered.

“I’m going with all of the above” Sam chimed in from his seat.

Sam continued “Seriously Steve, You read the file. He’s a POW who was tortured and brainwashed. Then he was assigned to kill you, and you just bust in there. What did you expect to happen?”

Steve slumped “I don’t know. I thought he remembered me. I thought on the helicarrier he,..he.. I don’t know” he said while shaking his head.

Sam sat forward “I know you hoped he was here because he remembered, and Steve you were right. He let himself be brought to Avengers tower. Where Captain America hangs out. He knew you would be here. He knew, but that still didn’t mean he knew what to do when you charged into the room.”

“Yeah man, Sam’s right, he didn’t just follow Nat here not knowing.” Clint added.

Steve looked angry “Yeah, and why is he doing what she tells him to? What’s going on there? He doesn’t even know her?” 

Shaking his head Sam said “Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. He has spent the past decades with someone else calling the shots. Also, she just rescued him from Hydra who he seemed glad to leave..”

“And she’s hot.” Clint added.

They both looked at Clint who defended himself “What? Guy probably hasn’t had a chance to do much dating while being held by the Russians and Hydra. Who wouldn’t want to do what Nat asks? That’s her superpower you know, in addition to kicking people‘s butts.”

Steve laughed, But Sam had turned back to the monitor because Bucky had touched Natasha’s hand.

They all froze as Bucky asked his question. When Bucky was done talking Steve sat back and smiled.

“He remembers me.”


	7. Chapter 7

Natasha sat in a chair near Bucky and waited while doctors finished up. The medical area of Avengers tower had a few clear walls for a spacious feel, interspersed with solid walls for privacy. The last of the medical personnel eventually gave one last check of Bucky’s charts, bandage, and IV, then moved into another area, leaving him to rest. Finally, Natasha told him to get some sleep and left. A clear door clicked locked when Natasha left his room. Bucky lie in the bed, his eyes closed. He knew he was sealed in. 

The medical personnel continued working in the areas around Bucky’s room. After about fifteen minutes, Dr. Stone walked within a foot of the locked door. Bucky sprung from the bed, ripping out the IV. A hard kick directly to the door lock, and he was through. He snapped a metal leg off of a desk chair, and at the same time, grabbed the stunned Doctor by the back of the neck lifting her. Only her toes touched the ground. He held the metal shard under her chin, poised, ready to ram it up into her skull. Bucky stopped and stood in the doorway, then looked up and said “Steve Rodgers, I know you’re watching. Come down here.”

In the other room Steve jumped to his feet. Everyone was stunned, and Sam grabbed his arm. But Steve shrugged him off and headed for the door. 

Most of the Medical personnel had quickly escaped, but a few remained, hiding in areas under desks and behind cabinets. Bucky turned towards them and calmly said “Leave.” They scrambled from the room.

Steve met Natasha in the hall. “Wait here.” She said.

“He wants me.” Steve replied

“He listens to me.” she insisted

Without stopping, Steve argued “Not anymore. Listen, we can’t waste time in the hall. I need to get in there.”

When they entered, Bucky looked annoyed. “Not you. Just Rodgers.” he said

Natasha said “Just let the doctor go first.” 

“No. Get out.” he said coldly. 

She looked over at Steve. He said “I’ve got this, Nat.” 

She looked unsure, but backed out of the room. Bucky never moved an inch. 

“Come on Buck, let the lady go. She helped patch you up.” Steve tried again. 

Bucky didn’t act like he heard Steve. “First, the Museum said you were frozen in ice. How?”

“OK, questions first.” Steve said “Well, I was in a plane with Schmidt and it was supposed to attack the US and ..”

“No.” Bucky cut him off. “How were you frozen?”

“Uhh, Ice, the water was really cold.” Steve stammered.

“Why didn’t you get out of the plane?” Bucky said, still holding the doctor in an unmoving grip, her toes just touching the floor.

“I was piloting it. I wanted to make sure it..”

“Why didn’t you swim? What about the super serum?”

“From the Arctic? Do you know how far that is?”

Bucky scowled. He looked annoyed. “Weren’t there small planes on board?” 

“They were actually flying bombs.”

“And Howard Stark’s son conveniently finds you in the ice in time to save the world from an alien invasion?”

“Well, it was some time before, but yeah, that’s what..”

“Why didn’t you fight back on the Helicarrier?”

“First, can you let me finish a thought?” Steve yelled “Second, I can answer as many questions as you want. I swear. Just let the lady go Buck.”

Bucky looked like he had forgotten he was still holding her. He looked at her for a second and then looked at the floor.

“We were allies with the Russians during the war. Right?”

“Yeah Bucky” Steve said sadly.

“They were our allies.” Bucky repeated pausing and frowning. Then he said “But what they did to me. What the had me do. That wasn’t to help the U.S., it hurt the U.S.?” He asked still looking at the floor. 

“Yeah, Buck. I’m so sorry” Steve said

“The museum said I was dead.” Bucky said as he looked up. “So the museum was wrong. They were lies.” He stated looking Steve in the eyes with defiance.

“The museum didn’t know.” Steve wasn’t sure where Bucky was going with this.

“Schmidt was Hydra.” Bucky stated 

Steve didn’t like where this was heading. “Yeah,” he cautiously answered.

“Senator Pierce was Hydra.” Bucky said staring at Steve.

He was standing so still. Steve kept thinking he looked like a horrible greek statue, curling shoulder length dark hair, thick black beard and shirtless, holding the life of this woman in his hands literally. The poor doctor was also perfectly still, her only movement was the tears trickling down from her huge frightened eyes. Steve felt terrible for her.

“Please Bucky, I’m begging you, just let Sandra go. You’re scaring her, can’t you see that?” Steve pleaded.

Bucky looked the doctor up and down. He turned and looked at Steve, and his fist tightened on the metal shard, creaking and bending it. 

Then Bucky set Sandra on the floor, released his grip, and stepped back. It happened so suddenly the Doctor almost fell, but her survival instinct kicked in and she scurried from the room. 

Bucky threw the metal to the side. He stared at the floor for a few seconds then looked up. “You can not be Steve Rodgers. It is not possible. It’s a lie.” he stated.

This confused Steve, “Why? Why not?” he asked.

“Because it’s the year 2014. It is impossible.” Bucky stated.

“Well, You’re here too you know. And you fell from a train.” Steve said, hoping it wasn’t a mistake to bring up the train as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

“They had begun my transformation before that.” 

Steve was even more shocked, “They what? Do you remember it?”

“I am asking the questions.”

“No. When did they start?” Steve forcefully asked “When?”

“I am asking the questions.” He growled.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”


	8. Chapter 8

“Why didn’t you tell me what Zola did to you.” Steve asked again. 

“I don’t know who you are.” Bucky said.

“What will prove to you that I‘m Steve Rogers. What can I tell you? How much do you remember?”

“I remember enough. You look the same. You sound the same. You haven’t changed. And that is why you have to be a fake.”

“Did I change that much before? I mean, other than the obvious stuff Doctor Erskine did. I was frozen in ice too, you know”

Bucky walked up to Steve, and stared into his eyes. Then in a flash, Bucky’s metal hand was around Steve’s throat. Steve never flinched, and Bucky didn’t apply any pressure. Neither Bucky nor Steve blinked for a long time. Eventually Bucky was the first to look away, dropping his hand and stepping aside. 

“Why do you do that? I could have snapped your neck.” Bucky asked as he sat in one of the desk chairs. 

“I knew you wouldn’t.” Steve said.

“You would have let me kill you on the helicarrier.” Bucky said looking up from his seat. 

Steve walked over and sat in another nearby chair. “You wouldn’t have.”

“They wiped my memory right before they sent me on that mission. I was going to kill you.” Bucky yelled, then stopped and seemed to become less angry, to be thinking things over. He spoke again slowly “But, …I think Pierce jinxed himself...My memories always come back. Slowly, but they return eventually. He wanted me to remember your blood on my hands.” Bucky said eyes fixed on the floor.

“Bucky, he was a sick bastard.” Steve growled.

“I’m not the same person you knew. I can never be the same. You haven’t changed at all, and I have nothing left of the man you knew…“ Bucky had slumped forward, and was shaking his head and staring at the floor. He paused taking a deep breath “You need to stop calling me Bucky like you know me.” he finally said.

“No, I know you’ve changed over the years, but Bucky Barnes is still in there.” Steve said with conviction.

“Bucky Barnes would never hold a girl hostage with a shiv to her throat.” He replied, looking Steve in the eyes.

“Well, maybe there are some things we need to work on.” 

Bucky huffed out half a laugh. 

They sat in silence for a while, then Steve asked “Why are you here Buck?”

Bucky looked at Steve, took a deep breath then said “Hydra is able to track me. I need the device removed.”

“Is that why you let Nat bring you here?”

“Yeah.”

Steve nodded while Bucky returned to staring at the floor. “Let me ask Tony if he can take a look.” Steve said standing up. “Jarvis, where is Tony?”

The voice of Jarvis announced “Mr. Stark has left word that he is aware of the tracking device and will come down when he is ready. The device has been jammed in the mean time. Mr. Rodgers, you and your guest will remain in the medical wing while waiting.”

“OK” Steve said “I guess we wait here for Tony. So, it makes sense Hydra would put a tracking device on you somewhere. How long was it before they caught up with you?”

“The first time, was only a few days. I walked right back to Hydra with them. They thought I got lost after the mission. Killing them was too easy. The second time, they weren’t aware what happened to the first location. The U.S. government was tracking down Hydra agents right and left, and they thought they lost that last base to the government. The third time, they knew what was going on. They were ready, they just didn’t have the right equipment to make me forget, and get me under control again. This base was going to sit on me till it was safe to transport me to the lab. I was less of a priority with so many Hydra bases being exposed.”

“How soon after the Helicarrier did you get your memory back?”

“Not long, It usually comes back gradually. But sometimes familiar things give it a push. Even right after a wipe, seeing you gave it a big shove. It came back pretty quick after that.”

“Did you get your memory back often? I mean, did they let you get it back?” Steve asked.

Eyebrows coming together in a scowl Bucky said “They never want me to get my memory back. It just comes back. After a wipe I start out pretty blank, but then random stuff starts to pop up. It’s like a bunch of pieces of a puzzle thrown on the floor. Slowly, as I work at it, the pieces fit together a little easier.” 

Bucky took another deep breath, still staring at the floor. “That’s why Hydra kept me in cryo between missions, the less I was a wake the less I would remember. They could keep me out of cryo longer periods if they kept me away from anything familiar, like the Russians did. Oh, and the Russians were really good at making drugs. They had drugs for everything. ”

They sat in silence for a while after that. Steve needed time to digest the things Bucky was telling him. Bucky just seemed to be waiting for Tony to get the tracking device out. Steve wondered if Bucky would want to leave as soon as it was out. He also wondered if Bucky would be allowed to walk out of here if he wanted to.

Eventually Tony showed up carrying a briefcase. He was unusually quiet and it made Steve uncomfortable. “Hey Tony. This um, this is Bucky Barnes. Bucky this is Tony.” Steve said.

Bucky just watched Tony place the briefcase on the table next to one of the exam beds. 

Tony scowled “Yeah, I got the memo. First things first. Steve if your Buddy ever hurts one of my staff again, I’m throwing him out the window. Then we get to see if his Soviet Super Soldier Serum knockoff stands up to a 40 floor fall.”

Steve said “I’m so sorry about that Tony..”

“Don’t!” Bucky growled “Don’t apologize for me.” Bucky stood up “You have nothing to apologize for.” Then he looked Tony in the eyes. “If you want to be ticked off at someone you talk to me.”

“Yeah, I am ticked off at you. You homicidal animal. You shouldn’t be in here. But you are, because you want something from us.” Tony said while slamming tools onto the table. “So, just lie on the table and if you move an inch, I’m throwing you out a window and Hydra can have what’s left of you back. Are we clear?” Tony said.

Bucky nodded, then walked to where Tony put his equipment, and climbed onto the exam bed and lie on his back. 

Steve walked over to the table too. “How can I help?” he asked.

“Just stand back Spangles. If I need some help with a transistor radio I’ll call you.” Tony said turning away from Steve and looking in his box of tools. “Bruce and I isolated the tracking device before Old Frosty here decided to go nuts and try to kill Sandy. Thank god Jarvis had me call him on a private line, and didn’t just announce what was going on in here. Bruce is still analyzing some of the energy signatures in the arm and didn’t see anything.”

Bucky lie perfectly still as Tony poked a screwdriver into the star on Bucky’s shoulder. Nothing seemed to happen, then Tony pulled out another tool, and tried to jam it up under one of the plates. The tool snapped in half. Tony scowled. “OK, a little help here. How do you open this thing?” Tony grumbled.

Bucky looked at Tony and seemed startled. “Uh, I, I don’t know.” he stammered, and Tony looked annoyed.

“You never paid attention to how to open your own arm?” Tony was incredulous.

“They weren’t exactly giving me classes on it’s maintenance. It just worked. And when it didn’t, someone fixed it.” Bucky said also looking annoyed.

“OK, OK, everyone calm down” Steve was saying. Tony waved a handheld device over Bucky’s shoulder and suddenly the whole arm opened, all of the segments sliding exposed.

“Ooh, nice” Tony was saying to himself. Then he turned and began pulling out tools, rerouting power to different areas “Jarvis some music please” Tony announced as he got to work.

A few minutes later, something sparked and Bucky twitched. The monitor above his head showed his heart rate jump up. But Bucky lie still on the bed otherwise, just staring at the ceiling. Soon, another spark and something sizzled. Bucky’s eyes rolled back in his head and his heart beat became erratic. Tony just continued on cutting and poking.

“Tony wait!” Steve yelled “We need medical help in here!” The machine monitoring Bucky began to whine an alarm.

Tony sarcastically said “Maybe we should get a doctor…Nope. Frosty burned that Bridge. I hope your buddy is resilient enough to hang in there till I’m done. I don’t think anyone is coming to his rescue.” But while Tony was talking and Steve was checking Bucky, the doors opened and Dr Stone came back in. 

“Excuse me.” She said as she pushed past Steve. “Tony you need to reroute the main power area, and find a ground that isn’t going through the whole arm.”

“I’m trying” Tony said.

“No, you’re electrocuting him.” She snapped. “Stop trying to work faster and reroute the damn thing. You can get the tracking device out afterwards.”

“OK, OK, I’m rerouting. Happy? I would have thought you would have gotten a kick out of giving him a few shocks. He’s tough. I bet he can take double what I gave him and bounce right back” Tony said as he clipped things and soldered others back together. Slowly, Bucky’s heart rate seemed to even out, even though it was still fast. Finally, the whining of the alarm turned off.

“Did you do that on purpose?” Steve growled, while Bucky‘s eyes fluttered open, blearily looking around at the faces above him.

“Are you trying to start something Spangles, because your man here is one badly soldiered connection from having a coronary” Tony replied.

“It looked like you were trying to kill him.” Steve growled a little louder.

“I don’t care what you think it looked like..oh crap” Tony said, eyes widening, as Bucky’s whole upper arm sizzled and sparked, like a fourth of July misfire. “I’m blaming this on you.” Tony yelled.

Bucky’s body jerked, his eyes rolled up, and his heart stopped. The alarms were screaming now, and Tony was cursing. Dr. Stone was holding Steve back, “Do something!” Steve yelled. Then Tony switched tactics, jammed a large screwdriver into the shoulder and twisted, wrenching the whole arm off.

Once the arm was clear, Dr Stone moved in to try to bring Bucky back, but his heart began again on it’s own. It beat erratically at first, then it seemed to come back to normal. Bucky blinked his eyes open and looked dazed.

“Hey man, are you with me?” Steve asked relieved. Bucky looked up and saw Dr. Stone, he seemed focused on her, as she checked his vitals one last time. 

“His enhanced physiology seems to have recovered.” she said to Steve as she walked past him on her way out of the room.

Tony was also on his way out. He packed up his suitcase, and carried Bucky‘s limb out under his arm. 

“Is he bringing that back?” Bucky groggily asked.

“I, I think so.” Steve said, glancing back toward the closing door.

Bucky eyes started to drift closed, and he mumbled “How did he get it off?” 

“He shoved a screwdriver in the shoulder and twisted.” Steve answered.

“Crap. I coulda done that.” Bucky grumbled with his eyes closed.

“Yeah, I bet you could have. Just get some rest till he comes back.” Steve laughed. But, it seemed like Bucky was already out.


	9. Chapter 9

Bucky slept for over an hour, while Steve just sat by the bed thinking. The medical wing was unnaturally quiet. Steve knew the whole floor had been evacuated, maybe more. 

Not for the first time, Steve wondered what came next. Will Bucky leave? Will he be arrested? Will he be anything close to the man Steve once knew? Is the real Bucky still there? Or, is that a fair question? Everyone changes, and with everything Bucky has seen, done, and had done to him, of course he would be changed. Steve was deep in thought when Bucky spoke again.

“You sure he’s going to bring that thing back?” His eyes were still half closed, and he was looking towards the door Tony left through.

“I’m sure he is.” Steve said “Hey, you want some water or something?” 

“No. I need a screwdriver. Did he leave one here?” he said trying to sit up.

“Easy Buck, lie back. I think he took his tools.” Steve answered.

“Then get me something else that looks like one. They should have something in the cabinet over there.” Bucky pointed, then struggled to roll into a half reclined position, propped on his elbow.

Steve went to look in the cabinet “What do you need it for?”

“When the arm is removed, a mechanism activates in the shoulder that gives me a sedative and muscle relaxant. I want it out too. It’s stronger than I thought.” He watched Steve rummage through some drawers and hold up various medical instruments. Finally he held up something that Bucky thought he could use. Bucky nodded and rolled to lie on his back.

Steve came back over, “Just tell me where it is, and I’ll see if I can get it.”

“No, just hand it to me. I got it” Bucky said with his hand out.

Steve handed Bucky the metal tool, and watched him as he used his index to feel around inside the area where the arm socket was. “Do you know what you are doing?” Steve asked. Bucky just shrugged and blindly stuck the piece of metal into the corner of his shoulder and began to pry. “Buck, stop. You can’t just pull random stuff out of there!” Steve was trying to get the tool from Bucky who rolled and was blocking Steve with his elbow.

The door opened and Tony came back in as the two were mid-wrestle. Steve stopped and looked up guiltily while Bucky focused on his mission.

Tony raised his eyebrows and said “Jarvis just told me you two were getting into trouble.” He stopped when he noticed Bucky was shoving a piece of metal into the mechanical shoulder. “Stop! What is wrong with you? Do you not remember what happened an hour ago?” He said rushing to take the metal out of Bucky’s hand. 

“It needs to come out.” Bucky said.

“And you think that by jamming a piece of metal in there you can fix it?” Tony said

“It worked for you.” Bucky replied.

“Yes, but I am very experienced at jamming screwdrivers into cutting edge technical equipment.” Tony said, then looking at Steve “Step aside, Greatest Generation.”

Tony bent down and looked at the socket. He released a couple of latches and examined the shoulder a little more, moving an exam light over the arm. ”Plus, I can see what I am doing.” he added.

Finally, Tony reached in and pulled out a clip holding a row of tiny, mostly full, clear vials. “Here we go. Tranquilizers removed. Do NOT make me regret this.”

“Thanks, Tony” Steve said.

“I would have left that in there. But, I couldn’t imagine what kind of damage two super soldiers with pointy sticks could do.” Tony said while holding the vials to the light.

Bucky watched Tony then said “When are you bringing back my arm?”

“Still working on getting the transmitter out. Shouldn’t take too long.” he said while shrugging, then turned and left the room with the clip from Bucky’s shoulder.

“Why did they put that in there?” Steve asked.

“I guess they figured any time the arm is off, they don’t need me awake”

“Wouldn’t that be awkward in a fight”

“The arm is more durable than the rest of me, and I would never have it removed during a mission, just during maintenance.”

As Bucky lie back on the bed staring at the ceiling his stomach growled. Steve laughed and said “Want something to eat? I think I saw a fridge over there.” Steve went over to the refrigerator as Bucky sat up.

When he pulled the door open, he found lab samples, test tubes, and medical testing petri dishes. Steve looked over, “I might need to have to have a plan B.”

Jarvis’ voice suddenly announced “Sir, there is a break room to your left.” 

Steve walked over to the room with Bucky on his heels. Inside the break area they found a table and chairs, with a fridge stocked with soda and a few snacks including bags of chips and pretzels. They ignored someone’s old Tupperware, it was growing it’s own samples of mold.

Steve stepped aside and let Bucky fish out a coke and few bags of chips. Steve grabs a water and pretzels for himself. They go over to the table where Bucky immediately begins to eat his chips, and chug the soda. 

Steve slowly eats a pretzel. “Why didn’t you tell me about what Zola had done to you?”

Bucky just shrugs.

“Did you even report it to anyone?” Steve asks. Bucky stops eating and pushes aside the chips. He huffs out a breath and looks away. Steve quietly admits “I read your file. I know what they did.” 

Bucky goes rigid, and stands, walking away from Steve towards the windows. “Does everybody know?” He says quietly, closing his eyes. 

“What?” Steve asks.

Suddenly Bucky turns and growls “Did everybody in this fucking building get my file? Is it published in this weeks Shield memo?” Bucky was breathing hard when he finished. He started looking around for an exit. 

Steve moved closer, trying to calm him “No, No, Buck that’s not how it was. We needed to find you.” Steve followed Bucky as he headed towards the door. “Come on Buck, calm down…”

While Steve was talking, Bucky was mumbling “He’s not coming back with my arm..” as he headed for the solid door to the outer hall. Bucky reached the door, and it was locked. He tried to shove his shoulder into it, but it had no give. 

He stepped back to kick it, when Steve put his hand on Bucky’s shoulder “Stop. You have to calm down..” 

While Steve was talking, Jarvis began loudly announcing “Gentlemen, Step away from the door.” Bucky shrugged Steve off and kicked the door, it didn't budge. After Bucky kicked the door, the warning changed “This door has containment measures in place, there is a..”

Jarvis’ last words were lost as Bucky kicked again while Steve tried to hold him back. An ark of electricity like a lightning bolt raced up Bucky’s leg, dropping both Bucky and Steve to the floor. They lie stunned on the floor for a second, then Steve crawled over to Bucky who was rolling onto his side trying to stand. 

“That could have killed somebody!” Bucky gasped. 

“I’m pretty sure Jarvis wasn’t trying to kill us.” Steve tried to help Bucky up, but Bucky’s legs wouldn’t quite hold him up yet. 

“Back off Steve.” Bucky shrugged him off, sliding back to lean against a desk, and rubbing his leg, trying to get feeling back in it. He tried to catch his breath and was still eyeing the door. “Who’s Jarvis?” Bucky asked.

“That’s Tony’s AI. uh that means Artificial..”

“I know what an AI is.” Bucky said “So, is this Tony guy going to hand me over to the cops? Is that what’s going on?”

“No, we’re the Avengers. A kind of strike force that works with Shield. Or, we did. When there was a Shield.” Steve tried to answer, but he wasn’t really sure of the answer himself.

“Shield’s last strike force didn’t work out too well for you guys.” Bucky said, eyes still scanning for a way out of the room. “They worked for Hydra. How do you know your boss Tony doesn’t work for them too?”


	10. Chapter 10

“Tony is not our Boss.” Steve said firmly. He was still crouching on the floor facing Bucky. “Do you remember Howard Stark? Tony is his son. He’s a good guy, like his dad.”

“And he’s got my arm. Well, that’s Karma.” Bucky mumbled, tipping his head back resting it against the desk.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked. 

Before Bucky could answer, the door opened, and Natasha came in. “Okay guys, Tony is still working on the arm. Lord knows when he will be done. In the mean time, the whole staff of the Medical Section is hanging out in the common room upstairs. How about we get you guys somewhere more comfortable, and let the Doctors go back to their work?” she said, ignoring the fact that Bucky was sitting on the floor, and there was a smell of burning in the air. 

She gestured towards the door, and Steve extended his hand to Bucky again. Bucky stood on his own, and brushed past Steve on his way out. Steve shrugged, and followed Natasha and Bucky to an apartment one floor up.

As she opened the door she waved Bucky inside and said “You can hang out here till Tony is done with your arm.” 

Steve followed him in, and watched while Bucky walked around the entire small apartment checking the living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen then finishing up back in the living room area. Natasha said “Just ask Jarvis if you need anything. I’ll be back later.” then she turned, and left the two of them in the apartment.

Bucky walked into the bedroom and closed the door. Steve wasn’t sure what that meant. Did Bucky want him to leave? He decided to check out the apartment too. It was nice enough, in a generic hotel kind of way. 

Steve thought about leaving, then he heard a shower start in the bathroom. He thought about all of Bucky’s exposed hardware on his arm, and his wound on his side. “Should you be getting that wet?“ he yelled into the bathroom.

No answer. 

He definitely felt awkward now, and rummaged through some of the drawers to leave a note. He would be back in a while. Steve found paper but no pens or pencils. Before long the shower turned off. Less than a minute later, the bedroom door opened again. Bucky was in clean clothes. Dark jeans, and a black long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt. His hair was wet and slicked back from his unshaven face. 

Bucky ignores Steve, goes to the kitchen and opens up the fridge. He pulls out a bottle of beer, then moves to try to pry the bottle cap with his teeth. Steve immediately yells “No, hand it to me.” Bucky just shrugs, and hands him the beer.

While Steve opens the beer, Bucky pulls out a second Beer and a box of Italian food. After closing the fridge, he pops the food in the microwave and hands Steve the second beer while taking back the first. Bucky downs the entire bottle before the microwave finishes. He tosses the bottle onto the counter, finds a plastic fork in a drawer, then fishes his food out of the microwave. He turns to Steve and takes the second beer, leaving Steve standing there empty handed. 

Bucky sits at the small kitchen table and starts to eat. Steve laughs a little. Bucky looks up and says “Get your own. I’m your prisoner, not your host.”

Steve opens the fridge and pulls out another beer. The refrigerator looked well stocked and Steve wondered how long they expected Bucky to live here.

Steve sits at the table across from Bucky. When he takes a long pull of his beer, Bucky looks up saying, “Go easy on the Heiniken. Unless you plan on refilling the fridge.”

“You do realize you didn’t buy any of that stuff?” Steve replied.

“Yeah, but I don’t think they are gonna let me make any beer runs.”

Bucky finishes his food, then the bottle. He sits back and rubs his mouth with the back of his hand, then stands leaving everything on the table, and goes back to examining all of the rooms in the small apartment. Steve cleans up Bucky’s mess, then watches Bucky check each window in the apartment. 

“Do you plan on climbing down? We are at least forty stories up.” Steve asks with a smile.

Bucky just scowls, and goes right back to checking all of the windows. Steve sits on the couch and turns on the TV. When Bucky is done with the windows, he starts looking for air vents. He finds one and pulls a chair over to stand on it and get a closer look.

“Come on Buck. Give it a rest. Look, they have all of the movies from when we were kids on the TV now. You want to watch something?”

Bucky sighs, then goes back to checking the vent.

Steve clicks to a Flash Gordon movie. “Hey Buck ‘Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars’ is on. You remember that? It seemed so amazing … Remember Howard’s flying car from the expo?”

“Don’t” Bucky said quietly getting off the chair and turning away from Steve “I’m not the person you remember.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to push.” Steve stated, still watching the movie.

“The war was what? Two years ago for you? It was about that for me, maybe three years. The time I was awake was kinda broken up. It feels like three years ago, or a lifetime. I remember you and the war. It’s like watching this movie. I see it and remember it. But It’s not me. I’m not him. He is gone. The man I was before.” Bucky sat in the chair he had dragged up to a vent in the kitchen. “I didn’t want to meet you like this. I thought if Fury and I worked together I could take out the Hydra bases alone. Make them pay.”

“Alone? Until what? Until they killed you?” Steve asked.

Bucky stayed silent.

Steve finally spoke. “You said Fury knew where you were? He was in contact with you? Was he helping you?”

“I told him not to tell you where I was.” Bucky said “What would I say to you? I wasn’t sure it was you. I still don’t understand how both of us are here. But the more I think about it the more it makes sense. The Russians did it on purpose. They got a kick out of having one of Captain America’s Howling Commandos under their thumb. Hydra too.” Bucky growled that last part. Then he took a breath and calmly said “And, I’m going to take what they made me into, and turn it against them. I want them to fear the Winter Soldier.”

Steve stayed seated on the couch. This was a lot to take in. Bucky was still scanning the apartment from his seat at the side of the room. He stared at the small air vent for a while. Finally, he spotted the air return behind a decorative lattice on the wall. He walked over and knelt in front of it, placing his right hand on it carefully. Suddenly, he punched his fist through the middle, pulling the cover off. Steve immediately jumped up and moved towards Bucky, but the air-vent behind the return was too small for even Natasha to crawl into.

Bucky sat back on his heels and scanned the rest of the room. He slipped his hand into the neck of his shirt and began rubbing his hand over his shoulder, where flesh met metal. He looked up at Steve “She said he was still working on my arm. Can you call them and ask how much longer?” 

“Sure, Sure, We can ask Jarvis.”

“Is it everywhere?” Bucky asked, as his eyes darted around the room.

Steve felt guilty knowing that they were probably being monitored by more than just Jarvis “Yeah, I think Jarvis is everywhere in this building. And Buck, I um” Steve paused and Bucky’s eyes returned to Steve’s face. “Buck, sorry but there are probably cameras watching the apartment. Actually, I‘m pretty sure there are cameras in here.”

Bucky’s expression changed into a slightly confused squint. “What do you think I was just doing Rogers? I counted eight cameras and at least two more units for sound amplicifation. There is nowhere in this apartment that isn’t monitored in one way or another.”

Steve started to scan the room himself, half turning from Bucky.

Bucky laughed “Did you really think they were going to put me somewhere without cameras? “ he asked, while standing and looking at Steve.

“I’m used to it.” Bucky said with a shrug. “Civilians live with the illusion of privacy. Nothing has been private for the last decade. At least I know I’m being watched. I like to know where the cameras are though.”

“How about you ask your buddy Jarvis when my arm will be done?” he asked again, while walking over and sitting on the couch.

“Sure.” he said to Bucky, then louder and towards the ceiling, Steve said “Jarvis, do you have an estimated time Bucky will get his arm back?”

“Sir, I regret to inform you that there is not a timetable for completion. Mr. Stark has been called away on another important matter, and his return time has not been established.” Steve looked alarmed at that. Bucky stood back up and looked angry, his hand balling into a fist.

“Away?” Bucky yelled at Steve. “You mean he left?” Then he turned and went towards the windows while rubbing his shoulder again. He began to search the streets below. 

“I’m sure Tony had a reason.” Steve said, and warily watched Bucky get closer to the window. Steve began moving toward Bucky, trying not to spook him, but nervous about the window.

Bucky turned and was startled when he saw that Steve was inches from him, he jumped back bumping into the glass. Steve put his arm out to steady Bucky, but Bucky twisted out of Steve’s grip and took a few quick strides away, facing Steve. Bucky looked alarmed but continued rubbing his shoulder.

“Sorry, Sorry” Steve said.

“You’re…. quieter than you look.” Bucky said, then closed his eyes “ Ask Jarvis if…Ask if they can just bring me the arm till your friend gets back.” 

Steve smiled “You can ask him yourself, you know.“

“Rogers, just ask him!” Bucky growled, stepping towards Steve and looking angry.

Steve put his hands up to calm Bucky and said loudly “Jarvis, is there any way we can get Bucky his arm back until Tony returns?”

“I’m apologize Captain Rogers, the arm is not in any condition to be returned. Once it is reassembled, it will be returned to your friend.” Jarvis politely responded

Bucky’s breathing grew louder, and he walked over to the couch. He plopped down in the middle, and leaned back closing his eyes, his head tilted toward the ceiling. Steve noticed he looked shaky, and paler than before. His hand never stopped rubbing his shoulder.

“Does it hurt? Can I get you something?” Steve asked.

Bucky huffed a laugh, never opening his eyes. “It always hurts. But now, it feels like it’s on fire.”

“I think I can get you something for the pain.”

“The only thing that’s going to stop this is the arm.”

“Are you sure? we have some powerful stuff that might help your shoulder..”

“You don’t get it” Bucky cut him off “It’s not the shoulder. It feels like my arm is on fire.”

Steve’s eyes widened in surprise. “The arm? From the implants?”

“I don’t know. It feels like everything is on fire from the tips of my fingers to my shoulder.” He took a big shaky breath. “Maybe he should have left those tranquilizers in my shoulder after all.” He took another shaky breath “Maybe we can get them back?”

“Really?” Steve asked “You want the Hydra tranquilizers?”


	11. Chapter 11

Bucky paused after Steve asked if he wanted the tranquilizers back. He remained on the couch with his head tipped back and eyes closed. His hand gripped the shoulder tight, squeezing.

“I don’t know.” Bucky finally replied.

“I can get them if that’s what you want. We can put them back in your shoulder.” Steve said with a frown, standing near one of the armchairs, but not sitting.

Bucky opened his eyes a crack, tracking Steve’s movement. He sighed, then scratched at his dark beard, and he ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t look at me like that. And stop hovering. How about you do something useful, and get me a beer?”

“Do you want me to ask about the tranquilizers and painkillers first?” Steve said, while walking towards the fridge.

“No, but we could see if there is anything stronger than beer in here.” he said getting up to look in the kitchen cabinets. They turned out to be mostly empty, with the ones next to the refrigerator housing paper plates, cups, paper towels, dried rice mixes and soups. 

Finally, Steve stopped and looked up, “Wow, I don’t know what I was thinking. Tony has tons of booze somewhere. I bet Jarvis can actually help with that. What would you like?”

“Gin?” Bucky replied “and Tonic?” he added. “I haven’t had one of those in years.”

Steve smiled “One Gin and Tonic coming right up. Jarvis, can you tell me where I can get us a Gin and Tonic.” 

“Captain Rogers, there is a lounge two floors up in the west wing. Your guest is strongly encouraged to wait in the apartment.” Jarvis replied.

“Great. Thanks Jarvis. Buck, can you wait here?” Steve asked “ I can be back pretty quick..” He was saying while Bucky rubbed his arm, and stared at the floor. He was nodding yes to Steve’s question, but Steve changed his mind. “How about we both raid the lounge, see what else they’ve got?”

Bucky looked up “Won’t Tony get mad?” he said with a smirk.

“I keep telling you, I don’t work for him.” Steve said heading towards the door, “Come on, It‘s right upstairs, the lounges are super fancy. You‘ll like it.”

Steve asked Jarvis to open the door, and Jarvis again emphasized that their guest should remain inside, but Steve just herded Bucky out in front of him, then led the way to the stairwell.

The lounge turned out to be awesome. It had a fully stocked bar, fridge full of food, big TV with the game on, an amazing view of New York City, and the thick rolling smoke in a distance. They heard a loud rumble then saw another plume of smoke. Breaking news cut into the game, a battle was happening at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

They both stood dumbfounded.

Bucky whispered, “How did we not know this was happening?” 

“I guess the building is soundproofed. I know we were on the other side. But, I would have thought we would have heard it.”

Suddenly, A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky towards the smoke. Bucky initially took a half step back, but then he stepped right up and put his hand on the glass trying to see, and watch the TV at the same time. 

As the news helicopter panned over the statue Bucky said “Steve look, they dented her dress.” His voice sounded pained. “You gotta stop them. They’re your friends right. They’re gonna break her.” Bucky was raising his voice now.

The news helicopter camera zoomed in. The huge green Hulk could be seen hanging by one hand, dangling from the tablet in the Statue’s arms, swatting at robots as they swarmed around him like bees. There were flashes of red as Iron Man zoomed past, and arrows could be seen sticking out of sparking, robot debris. 

“It looks like they could use some help.” Steve turned away from the window, “Come on” he said as he headed for the elevator. Bucky took one last glance and hurried after Steve. 

The elevator dropped them off at Steve’s floor. Inside his apartment Steve immediately began shedding his clothes and putting on a new uniform from the closet. He looked over his shoulder at Bucky, “You want to lend a hand?” 

“Sure, What do you need me to get you?” 

“No, I mean out there. I have some uniform prototypes that might be a little loose on you, but they have straps to tighten them down. It’s better than Kevlar.” Steve rummaged through the closet, then pulled out a pair of black pants. He threw them at Bucky and continued pawing through, eventually finding a variation of the stars and stripes uniform jacket but with black sleeves. After throwing this at Bucky he pulled out a pair of red gloves. “Here” he said handing Bucky the gloves. Bucky changed into the pants, they fit loose but not too loose. He cinched the straps down until they looked like they were made for him. Steve threw some socks and black boots on the ground in front of Bucky and turned to finish changing. 

“Why do you have all this stuff?” Bucky asked.

“People like to keep redesigning the uniform. I just take them to be polite. Then, I chuck them in here.” Steve said while dressing.

“Um, Steve this isn’t going to work.” Bucky said. Steve turned and saw the limp sleeve, which didn’t seem obvious before, but now, definitely looked out of place.

“They’re gonna know it’s me. They saw the arm on the bridge. The news people will be all over this.” Bucky was right.

“Jarvis, does Tony have any extra prototype arms hanging around?” Steve yelled, then to Bucky he said “Put your boots on.”

Jarvis answered, “There are fourteen arm prototypes currently in various development stages in the workshop” 

“Great, get Dum-E to get the one closest to Sergeant Barnes size ready to go.”

Jarvis replied, “Captain Rogers, the arms are an exoskeleton, or shell, worn outside the arm, and intended to be attached to the rest of a suit.” 

“We’ll make due.” Steve said grabbing his shield, and flipping it onto his back.

Once they hit Tony’s workshop Dum-E had a couple of suitable arms. One arm had a working built-in communication unit. Jarvis was able to remotely move the arm. Not much use in a fight, but it might make the arm look realistic, instead of being frozen in place. Bucky put a glove on it. “Looks good enough“ he said.

Bucky then unzipped his top, shoved the arm in the sleeve, and was ready to go. It hung at a slightly weird angle, but the suit was tight enough to seat it right against the shoulder. Jarvis flexed the arm slightly and curled the hand into a fist.

“I need some weapons before we go.” Bucky said as they headed out of the room.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Guns. Knives. At least you have a shield. Gimme something to fight with, not just a fancy suit.” Bucky said as they headed to the elevator.

“Yeah, you’re right.“ Steve added “Jarvis…”

Before he could finish Jarvis said “Captain, it is strongly suggested that Sergeant Barnes remain in the apartment”

“Jarvis, Where does Tony keep the weapons? Not prototypes, the usable stuff.” Steve said firmly.

Jarvis answered “There is a weapons cabinet for the security personnel on the fourth floor” 

“Thanks” He said.

As they stood inside the elevator riding down to the fourth floor, Steve was still checking his suit for last minute adjustments. Bucky just watched him shaking his head.

“This is weird right?” Bucky said looking at Steve.

“What’s weird? The fact that your wearing my clothes? Or, that we are going to fight robots.”

“All of it.” Bucky said. “Your not actually that much bigger than I am.”

“No, I am definitely bigger”

“You have a super serum advantage. This is all me.” Bucky said gesturing to himself.

“Is that what you think?” Then the door opened. As they stepped off, Steve realized he may know more about what they did to Bucky than Bucky did. Steve had the file from Natasha. Bucky most likely didn’t know the specific things they were doing to him. Hydra wouldn’t tell the test subjects what was being tested on them, or what their goal was. Bucky was just a tool, a weapon. He thought about it for a while as Bucky raided the armory, strapping weapons and holsters onto the suit. This didn’t seem the time to discuss how much Bucky actually knew.

“Ready.” Bucky said, moving out of the armory, pulling straps and checking ammo pouches. As they boarded the elevator again, they both pulled on their cowls and helmets. With his upper half of his face covered, Bucky’s black beard stood out in the Captain America style costume. 

The elevator descended, and Steve watched Bucky tug on the shoulder of the uniform, and adjust the unattached arm. While Steve was looking up at the floor numbers he could see Bucky in the reflection of the door rubbing his shoulder. Before he could comment, the doors opened and they were on the move, heading for a Quinjet waiting outside.


	12. Chapter 12

On the street outside of the Tower a Quinjet was waiting, buffeting them with a dusty wind from it’s engines. Jarvis had contacted Tony, who sent Hawkeye to pick up Steve. Hawkeye raised his eyebrows at Bucky and his new look, but took it in stride, quickly bringing them right into the thick of the fight, briefing them on their way.

Hawkeye told them that a guy named Baron Helmut Zemo came to Avengers Tower with some weird aircraft that held a small robotic army. Zemo had the idea that he would catch them by surprise, kill the Avengers in a display of power, and take the city. Tony was able to move the fight to Liberty Island, with the hopes of avoiding another civilian catastrophe like the Chitauri Wars. 

After some initial destruction, the Avengers were able to relocate the battle, and seemed to be gaining the upper hand, if it weren’t for the overwhelming numbers of robots that Zemo brought with him. Tony kept circling the island keeping the battle contained, and destroying any escapees. The remaining Avengers fought around the Statue itself. Thor attacked from above, Natasha sniped from the ground, and Hulk smashed from everywhere.

Bucky didn’t seem happy with the move to Liberty Island. “The statue stands for something, they can’t just bust her up.” He grumbled. 

Steve answered “I bet she would rather take the hits than let people on the street get hurt.” 

“Of course you would think that.” Bucky said, while leaning over Hawkeye’s shoulder to see out the window.

The jet was still twenty feet from the ground when Bucky ran to the ramp at the back and jumped out, Steve followed right after him. Bucky shot and destroyed three flying robots before he even hit the ground. The fighting was fast paced, and the lack of an arm didn’t seem to make Bucky any less deadly. Jarvis occasionally moved the left arm into a slightly different angle, but basically he just kept the hand resting down near Bucky’s hip. Steve watched with interest, remembering their fight on the Helicarrier and seeing the Winter Soldier from a different perspective. It was better to watch when you weren’t the one being attacked. 

There were basically two types of evil armored robot. One looked like a three foot long blue-gray beetle that flew and had small guns on the front. Then there was a larger robot, that looked like a silver scorpion with the stinger being one large gun. It fired slower, but packed a punch. The scorpions couldn’t fly by themselves, but two of the beetles could lift one and relocate it. 

Bucky shot robot after robot. He seemed to have a knack for hitting them in a weak spot to make the whole thing blow up in a spray of sparks and twisted metal. Fighting side by side felt natural, Steve and Bucky strangely fell back into sinc as if they had been fighting this way all along. But Steve was able to see Bucky’s new brutality up close. His fighting was more vicious, and aggressive than before. And suddenly, as smoothly as the fight felt like it was going, Steve found himself alone. 

Bucky had discovered a hovering cloaked vehicle the size of a bread truck near the statue’s raised arm. He noticed it when Hulk threw a robot and it bounced off thin air. A Shield Quinjet was hovering nearby and Bucky ran up, jumped, and landed draped over the canopy. He pointed to the pilot where he wanted to be dropped off. The Qiunjet dropped Bucky off right on top of the torch. From the torch, Bucky jumped down onto the large cloaked vehicle controlling the robots. He didn’t realize the cloaked vehicle also held about a dozen mutates in armor. As he landed on top of the vehicle, twenty more beetles flew from an opening in the bottom, swarming like angry bees. He whirled and fired. Robots and armored bodies fell to the ground in piles, yet there were still so many more. Bucky was vastly outnumbered and right in the middle of the attacking mass. Steve tried to get to him climbing up a light post then jumping onto a roof top. He needed to get closer, but the number of ground robots were making it difficult to try to get anywhere near Bucky. Natasha and Clint continued to pick off individuals as from the ground, but they could only provide so much support. Bucky was too far away for them to make an impact on his battle, and the Quinjet pilots were mostly concerned with protecting and evacuating civilians.

Eventually, one of the Beetle robots got in a lucky shot. It missed Bucky by a mile, but the shot rebounded off a passing flying robot and hit Bucky square in the metal shoulder. The blast spun Bucky, and he lost his footing, falling through the air from at least a half mile up. As he tumbled through the air, He attempted to grab a robot flying past, but it swerved out of his reach, and fired a round hitting him in the leg. 

Steve was frantic, “Thor, get Bucky!” he yelled. He could see Thor just meters above Bucky, but also there were too many robots between Thor and Bucky, Steve knew there was no chance of Thor catching him in time.

Unexpectedly, Iron Man flew around the side of the statue, dipped down and caught Bucky seconds from hitting the ground, setting him down next to Steve. Tony saluted Steve, and flew straight up and into the fray again. 

Bucky looked unfazed and continued to blast away at the robots, even with a bleeding leg. Steve on the other hand felt like his heart was racing from watching Bucky fall. It vividly brought him back to the train in the mountains. But, he knew there was no time for that, pulled himself together and got right back into the fight. He didn’t have time to worry that Bucky was fighting with one arm, stitches in his side, and a shot leg. Bucky seemed not to notice. Steve however was regretting his decision to bring Bucky to this battle, even if he is a one man army.

Slowly, the fight caused Steve and Bucky to separate. Bucky moving around one side of the statue, and Steve the other, until they couldn’t see each other any more. Steve could still see Natasha and Hawkeye on their perch shooting robots one after the other. Thor still held the high ground, hitting the cloaked vehicle in the sky with lightning, destroying the one Bucky had been on top of. Once Thor destroyed the one cloaked vehicle, he was able to see the signs for the others and quickly lit up three more.

Tony kept circling a wide path, keeping any strays corralled on the area of Liberty Island, and away from the city. The Hulk jumped from one part of the statue to another, smashing ships and robots alike with his fists, and sometimes denting the statue itself with his crushing grip as he hung from her arm.

Bucky kept looking up, distracted by the damage the Hulk was doing to the statue. Still, he never missed a shot. Natasha was trying to cover his back, as he separated from Steve. Clint had moved towards the east side with Steve. 

Soon there seemed to be a lull, the mutates were trying to regroup with their robots in the air, and Hulk swung down to the ground next to Bucky.

The robots on the ground came around from the right side of a building and both Hulk and Bucky engaged. 

It happened like a car crash on the highway, so suddenly that Natasha’s mind almost didn’t register it. But, she could replay it over in her memory, and would see it in her dreams afterward. One minute Bucky was behind the Hulk, then he stepped forward and was gone.

The Hulk had backhanded him in a lightning flash move, then lept away towards the next onslaught.

After tumbling through the air, Bucky landed sprawled on his back on the grass under a tree. Natasha rushed towards him. He looked unharmed, but dazed. His eyes seemed confused and slightly unfocused. She didn’t have a second to spare to examine him though, the enemy had already regrouped and were more organized in this second attack.

As she picked off robot after robot, she realized Bucky wasn’t getting up. Through the roar of battle and rocket fire, she could hear gasps and knew Bucky was struggling for air. She could see blood bubble from the corners of his mouth. He needed help. She tried to radio for help, but her comms had lost signal. She couldn’t get a visual on any of the Avengers except the Hulk, who was fighting above them. She had to keep an eye out for the machines trying to kill her, and the debris dropping from the sky from the Hulk. 

She stood above Bucky firing at the enemy, hoping he could hold out. She looked down and saw her hot brass falling onto the ground next to the twisted wreckage of Bucky’s left arm. It took her a second to remember that Tony had Bucky’s left arm in his lab. She vaguely wondered where he had gotten another one as she kept firing at the aliens. 

To her left she saw the robots were coming through the trees in a solid formation, the Beetles and the Scorpions were working together. She needed to fall back, but that wasn’t possible. She glanced down and saw that Bucky’s legs slowly moving a few inches, and his right hand twitched, but other than that was in the same position as when she found him. His eyes seemed focused on her, but occasionally flicked in the direction of the robots. She was glad he was still conscious.

She fired away at the robots, but they began a maneuver that created a shield from their shells layered together. Most of her rounds bounced off. She knew she needed to run, but she wouldn’t leave Bucky as long as he was still breathing.

Soon, she wouldn’t be able to run from them if she tried. She took another glance down at Bucky and froze. No more bubbles. No noise. No movement. No sounds of breathing at all. 

The robots almost had her in range now. Their formation turned, and was ready to fire at her. It was too late, she couldn’t run. Then, from the air, the Hulk dropped down. He grabbed the robot on the end, smashed the rest with it’s metal body as a club, then jumped away. The entire formation of robots was now smoking debris.

The battle continued around her, but it seemed distant. Unreal. Then suddenly a wheezing breath, and bloody bubbles ran from the corner of Bucky’s mouth. His eyes opened and looked for her.

She realized he had tried to play dead to get her to leave. He wanted her to run to safety. 

“Stupid” she yelled, and kicked shell casings at him. His face flinched but he didn’t otherwise move.

Eventually, the battle slowed. Baron Zemo realizing that there was no way to win, escaped. He set the robots to self destruct to make it easier for him to slip away. The explosions lit up the area like a destructive fourth of July, showering the area with metal shrapnel. The few remaining cloaked vehicles seeing Zemo run, also made a quick retreat.

Tony flew back toward the Statue, circling the torch, checking if there was any more enemy left to deal with. Natasha waved him down, as she crouched over Bucky. 

Making a direct flight toward Natasha, Tony said, “I saw all of the mayhem, and bullets flying and thought you two were kicking ass. What happened?” She stepped aside and Tony was able to see the damage. “I got this.” He said as he carefully scooped up Bucky and flew away with him. 

Steve came around the base of the statue with Clint and Thor, who were laughing. Steve was glancing around for Bucky. 

Natasha had blood on her hands as she came up to them. “Steve, I’m sure he’s going to be OK. Tony took him..” 

Bruce was there suddenly too. “He didn’t get up did he? It was the heat of battle. I, I, I forgot he wasn’t invulnerable. It happened so fast. I’m so sorry Steve.”


	13. Chapter 13

Tony cradled Bucky tightly while hitting full thrust on his boots, shooting them through the sky. Bucky kicked a little, squirming to get away, his self preservation instincts at war with his dislike of Tony. The Iron Man armor’s grip held firm, and Bucky soon tired and slumped back, breathing in rasping wet gasps.

Tony flew right into Avengers tower. The medical bay was put on alert by Jarvis, and medical personnel rushed to greet them. Tony hired Dr. Stone because she was an expert in unusual physiologies. She was there in the middle, ready to take Bucky from Tony. Her experience with the super soldier serum made her the most qualified person to handle Bucky’s injuries

Tony’s suit allowed him to see through a person. He saw the broken bones, and internal bleeding. A punctured lung was among the many injuries. Tony prayed Bucky’s serum was actually as good as Steve’s, he would need all the help he could get. 

While Tony stood helplessly, a nurse stripped the Captain America style jacket from Bucky. The crushed arm prototype was thrown to the side, still tangled in the sleeve of the jacket, and Tony was ushered out of the room. He picked up the jacket on the way out.

Slowly he walked up to the nearby common room lounge, and sat in a chair. The jacket was in his lap and he pulled out the crushed arm and tossed it on the coffee table.

Steve was flown into the building by Thor. Tony could hear the raised voices. 

Minutes after their arrival, Steve rushed into the lounge in a frenzy. “They wouldn’t let me in. How was he?” Steve yelled at Tony.

Tony just stared at the twisted metal arm. “How did he use this? It doesn’t fit the socket?”

“What?” Steve yelled “Focus Tony! How was he? I know you can look inside people with the suit.”

Tony stood, the jacket in his lap tumbled to the floor. He had the mask off and looked into Steve’s eyes. “It looked bad Steve. I hope…I hear he’s tough.” Tony said, then walked away to fix himself a drink with shaking hands. Steve just stood staring after Tony, but his eyes seemed a million miles away.

Thor stood behind Steve and put a hand on his shoulder. Steve picked up the jacket and stared at the blood. “I shouldn’t have let him leave the apartment.”

“No Captain. Do not blame yourself, He fought with valor.” Thor argued. “You did not force him to fight this day.”

Steve shook his head, laying the jacket carefully on the coffee table next to the arm. “No, He wasn’t ready.. He was in pain and only had one arm…” 

Steve picked up the mangled arm from the table “He, he didn’t want to fight with one arm, because he didn’t want the media put the pieces together that he was the Winter Soldier. He shoved a fake arm in his sleeve.” Steve threw the arm “You want to know how he used the arm Tony? He didn’t. It was just to fill the sleeve… It didn’t do anything else.” he said slowly deflating from his anger.

Steve wiped the tears from his face, as he heard voices in the hall. Sam must have brought Clint and Natasha up to the tower. 

“How is he?” Natasha asked as soon as she saw them.

“The doctors wouldn’t tell me.” Steve said. “Tony said it looks bad.”

She had noticed the jacket and closed her eyes for a second. “He stayed down after he was hit. Bruce.. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. But, he can throw tanks Steve.” She sat down on the sofa and put her face in her hands. “He’s with us for one day, and we almost kill him.” she said without removing her hands. Clint sat on the couch next to her, his thigh touching hers.

Steve stepped up to her “No. He is strong enough. I know he’s strong. Stronger than me. He will make it through this.”

A woman with blood on her gown rushed into the room. “We need help. He is going through the sedatives too fast. Please, Tony contact Dr Banner, see if he has anything stronger than what he gave us. He isn’t answering when we call.” Then she turned to Steve. “Please, we need to calm him down. He won’t let us help him.”

As soon as she mentioned needing help, Steve was heading for the medical wing. 

“Captain Rogers, here put this on” she said as they were stepping through the glass doors. Steve could hear crashes, shouts, and yells, and see the medical personnel scrambling. 

Once the gown was on, and he approached, he could see Bucky in the middle of the chaos. Bloody, cut open, and conscious. He was almost bare from the navel up. The area around his metal shoulder had some sort of blue cloth over it. Bucky was panting and wide eyed, every breath brought more bloody bubbles to his lips. Dr. Stone continued to work on him. Steve could see Bucky‘s back arch off the table, as nurses tried to keep him down.

Dr. Stone looked up then continued to work, “Is Banner bringing us anything stronger?”

The nurse called out “Stark is trying to contact him”. She began moving an overturned tray out of the way.

Stone then looked at Steve. “You need to calm him down. Hold his hand. Tell him to focus on you. Sing to him. Do something that gets him to stop moving.”

Steve saw that Bucky’s hand and arm were strapped to the bed. He noticed a couple more thick strong bands on Bucky’s legs and one that Steve originally thought was Bucky’s belt, but he remembered the suit didn’t have a belt. 

Steve grabbed Bucky’s hand and leaned over his face. “Hey, focus on me, Okay.” Bucky kept trying to look around Steve at Dr. Stone, then down at what her hands were doing. “No, up here at me. Look at my face. Like when we were kids, and I had an asthma attack, just focus on me, and breathe slowly.” Bucky was still trying to look around Steve, but his breathing had slowed a bit. After a minute Dr. Stone did something that made a wet sound, and Bucky arched and howled. 

Steve had never heard anything like it, Bucky threw his head back and produced a noise that was deafening, and frightening. Steve didn’t know what to do.

Steve looked at Dr. Stone who yelled “Hold him down.”

“Can’t we use the sedatives that Tony removed? The ones that plug into his shoulder?” Steve yelled over Bucky’s screaming. “He needs something.”

“The shoulder socket was damaged. The lab tech’s are trying to figure out the dosing.” She yelled. She pulled at something else, then paused and let Bucky get his breath. He deflated, lying flat on the table, moaning on every exhale. “The vials held more than one substance. One of the vials was cyanide. We don’t want to just randomly inject him with Hydra chemicals.” Dr Stone said, returning to work.

“He needs something.” Steve repeated.

Steve just kept holding Bucky’s hand. He continued leaning over Bucky trying to block his view. Bucky though, now was focused on the wall over his own head which was tipped back as he varied, between yells and moans. Steve pushed the sweaty hair back from Bucky’s forehead. He repeated over and over “It’s gonna be Okay Buck. You’re gonna be Okay. They’re gonna fix you up. It’s gonna be Okay.” 

Eventually Steve found the pattern for the noises. Bucky moaned when Dr. Stone had her hands outside his body, and screamed when they were inside. The screams varied as to whether she was cutting, shifting bone, or any of the many things she did to put Bucky’s broken body back together. Steve never stopped talking, and didn‘t really want to see what Dr Stone was doing. 

After what seemed like an eternity someone came in and put something in Buck’s IV and he slipped into a state where he just stared at the ceiling with glassy eyes, no struggling, and no yelling, but his heart rate, and breathing was still fast. Even when the screaming stopped, Steve kept up stroking Bucky’s hand, and telling him he will be Okay. 

It felt like Bucky had screamed for hours, but it was actually less than five minutes from when they called him into the room. Steve guessed five minutes awake during surgery could feel like an eternity.

After a few hours they were done. Dr. Stone looked exhausted at the end. A nurse had moved a chair next to Bucky’s bed during the surgery, and Steve was able to sit. When they finished, Bucky closed his eyes. Steve stayed, not leaving Bucky’s side. 

Dr. Stone after checking the equipment, and recording information into her tablet came over to Steve. “I think he is going to recover fully from this. We had to fight some of his augmented healing, because it was trying to begin to heal bones that were smashed or at terrible angles. As soon as we got the bone fragments from the lungs they began to heal on their own, and there was some organ damage, but again without the bones puncturing them, they seem to be on their way to recovering.” 

She put her hand on Steve‘s arm “Thank you for helping us... He was fighting every time I touched him. His muscles clenched and he was writhing enough to make it a risk of my injuring him more than healing him. Once you started talking to him, he settled down. I might need a hearing aid after today, but he should recover fully in a few weeks, possibly less.” She patted Steve’s arm again, and headed out the door. 

Steve put his head down on the side of the bed. He had been weeping the entire time Dr. Stone talked to him. Tears of relief. He clutched Bucky’s hand harder, and Bucky squeezed back. Steve’s head jerked up, and looked at Bucky. His face never moved, and his eyes didn’t open. Bucky’s hand had become limp again, but Steve knew he was in there. 

Less than a half hour after they were done, Tony poked his head around the corner. “I come bearing gifts.”

“Maybe later Tony.” Steve said 

“Not for you Cap. For your sleepy friend.” Tony said, and held up Bucky’s arm. “I figure it would be best to get to work while he is still out. He can wake up new and improved, and free of tracking devices.”

“What about cyanide free?” Steve couldn’t help himself “Or did you want to leave that in there?”

“Sorry Steve. My bad. I missed it.” Tony said, but Steve still had an eyebrow crooked “Believe what you want Cap. It was a mistake. One in a series of many more I am sure I will make in the next few days, let alone lifetime.”

“You don’t like him.” Steve said.

“No. You know I read the file. I can’t help it. I can’t help but be angry for what he took away. He killed my parents. If he was a dog they would have put him down.” Tony realized he went too far, Steve began to stand.

Tony put his hands up. “Sorry, Sorry. He didn’t have any say on the people he killed. I get that rationally. I get that he used to be a good guy. That he didn’t deserve this either. That’s why I’m here. This,” Tony said waving at the arm. “This, I can fix.”

Steve nodded then sat back down and rubbed the back of his head while looking at Bucky. 

Tony continued “You know this thing weighs like fifty pounds. He has to be a super-soldier to heft this thing around. Too bad.. If it were lighter it could help a lot of people, but this is a beast.” he rambled on as he brought tools and equipment into the room.

Bucky’s fingers twitched, then he moaned.

“Shhh Buck. Get some rest. It’s done. You’re gonna be okay, just get some rest. It‘s done” Steve whispered.

“No more. No…no more, Please.” Bucky softly murmured, making barely there moans with each breath.

“Shh… It’s done. The doctors are all done Buck. Just get some sleep.” Steve repeated from his seat next to Bucky.

Bucky continued to make a faint moan with every exhale. His eyelids kept fluttering, trying to open. 

The gleaming metal arm was sitting on a table along with a small red toolkit. Tony had left in search of something, and returned with a grin “Bruce bent up the shoulder socket, but this should bend it right back.” Tony waved a hammer and pliers in the air.

At Tony’s voice Bucky’s eyes opened and he blindly struck out at the closest person. It happened to be Steve, knocking him backwards in his chair. The chair flipped over, and Steve jumped up, startled but unhurt. Even thought the restraints had been removed, the sedative and the broken bones made it so Bucky still couldn’t sit up. Tony stepped back and said “Well, not exactly the welcome I was expecting.” 

Steve rushed forward to calm Bucky. “Easy Buck” He was saying. He stepped into Bucky’s space again, and took another hard shove to the chest. Even sedated Bucky was strong enough to shove Steve back a few steps. Bucky lie back gasping with his fist clenching and unclenching, hand held over his chest ready for another strike. His eyes alternated between scrunching up closed and squinting searching around the room.

Steve learned his lesson, and was afraid Bucky was going to hurt himself. He stayed back this time calmly saying “Easy Buck, Easy..Easy…No one wants to hurt you.” Tony just stood there watching, and shrugged at Steve.

In between Bucky’s low moans he again said “No.”

“It’s okay Buck. Tony just want to help fix your arm.” Steve said “It might take some of the pain away.”

“No” Bucky repeated, then looking at Tony “Don’t… Don’t touch me.”

Steve looked up and said “Tony maybe you should go” 

“Thinking the same thing. Just give me a call when he’s ready.” Tony said heading back out of the room. 

After Tony left, Bucky seemed to relax, still faintly moaning. 

Steve picked up his chair again. “Just get some rest.” he said sitting in the chair. He had the chair close enough that Bucky could push him out again if he wanted to. But, Steve didn’t care. He didn’t want to be back too far, and he definitely wasn’t going to move to Bucky’s vulnerable side. 

After about fifteen minutes of calm, a nurse quietly came in with a syringe. Steve smiles at her as he leans back giving her room to adjust the IV, and check the monitors.

As she lifted the syringe to check it, Bucky whispered “Steve, please. No more.” and Steve could see he was shaking.

“It’s just the nurse, Buck.” he said rubbing at Bucky’s arm. Then to the nurse, Steve asked “Could you explain what you have?”

Gently the nurse said “It’s just the same medicine from before. It will help you sleep. That would be good wouldn’t it.”

“No. No more. Please, Steve.” Bucky begged again.

Steve tried to calm him “Okay, she won’t give you anything you don’t want.”

The nurse looked confused and asked “Honey, how did it make you feel last time?”

Bucky looked from her to Steve before answering “Frozen.”

The nurse’s eyes widened for a second before she caught herself “Were you awake?” she asked gently.

Bucky looked away “Yes” he answered then closed his eyes.

The nurse immediately said “Okay. No more of this. I’ll tell Dr Stone.” and she took the syringe from the room. 

Steve leaned forward trying to process the fact that Bucky was aware the whole time they operated on him. He ran his hands through his hair, and looked up at the ceiling. 

He heard Bucky whispering again. “Steve, you have to get me out of here before they come back.” 

“No Bucky. You’re safe remember.” Steve said taking his hand.

Bucky pulled his hand away. “Get me out of here.” 

“These people are trying to help you. You need to rest. You have internal damage, broken bones.” Steve insisted.

Bucky scowled “Steve..”

“They made a mistake. They are trying to help… We want to help.” Steve was pleading now.

Bucky’s voice turned to a low growl, “Then get me out before they come back.”

“Bucky, I want to help.” Steve said sighing.

“Steve…” he growled again.

“Punctured lung Bucky. You don’t mess with that kind of stuff.” Steve insisted.

“Steve, Please.” Bucky’s whisper sounded pained “Get me out.”

“Okay.” Steve relented. “I’ll figure something out.” 

He looked at the equipment Bucky was hooked up to, and turned off and removed the connections to the monitors. While he was putting the IV bag on Bucky’s chest a nurse popped in. Steve waved her away, and rolled Bucky’s bed towards the elevator. 

Bucky tried to get off the bed and Steve pushed him back on “Just lie back. I’ll steer.” He said. 

While they were waiting for the elevator, Bucky tried to roll off the bed again. 

“If you want out of here you need to relax, and lie back.” Steve insisted.

Bucky lie back and closed his eyes.

Instead of going to Bucky’s apartment, which Steve thought of as just a fancy prison, Steve took him to his own apartment. He helped Bucky into the guest room. Steve gently lifted Bucky into the bed. Once in this bed Bucky seemed to fall into an actual sleep, thought he still moaned. Steve sat in the chair next to the bed. Without the adrenaline of the fight, or trauma of the surgery, Steve soon fell asleep too. 

The sun was just rising on the next morning when Bucky woke up. “Steve, Steve,” he was whispering.

Steve awoke with a start “Huh?” he said.

“The arm. Put the arm on.” Bucky whispered.

Steve rubbed his eyes “Go back to sleep”

Bucky wasn’t moving much, just a bare angling of his head, his eyes were turned towards Steve “Put it back on.” 

Steve leaned over him to make it easier for Bucky to see him. He said “The socket was damaged. It’s bent.”

“Bend it back.” Bucky insisted.

Steve laughed, “I appreciate your faith in me, but I think we need Tony for this.”

“No. You fix it.” he hissed. “Just shove it on.”

“Let me get Tony.” Steve said while standing.

“So he can kill me?” Bucky asked.

Steve was taken back, “That was an accident.”

“You said he did it on purpose.” Bucky countered.

“I asked if he did it on purpose.” Steve replied.

Bucky looked defiant, “Did he?”

“Maybe.” Steve said, looking away.


	14. Chapter 14

Scowling at Steve, Bucky lie in bed, flat on his back. He angrily shoved the covers down and tried to figure out how to sit up. The broken ribs were still painful. 

As Bucky shifted to the side, Steve moved in to help Bucky readjust, and said “Tony wasn’t trying to kill you, or you would be dead.” 

After Steve put another pillow behind him, Bucky waved Steve away and settled back on the bed “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” 

His voice was still faint, and Steve guessed it might be from the drugs still in his system. Steve also thought it could be from the pain. Even with the long list of injuries, the pain in Bucky’s arm seemed to bother him the most. It must be bad if Bucky was willing to have Steve use his non existent mechanical skills on Bucky’s body. 

Still trying to convince Bucky to let Tony fix the arm. Steve said “Tony flew you to the Tower. You were pretty out of it, and might not remember, but he got you to help.” He sat back down in the chair next to Bucky. 

Steve continued, “If you want your arm back, you have two options. One is to get a qualified person, who you may not trust, come in here and put the arm back on. Or, two, we do it ourselves and try to shove it on with just guesswork and gumption.”

Bucky answered “Go get the arm.”

Standing, Steve said “I’ll be right back with Tony.”

Bucky threw his arm over his eyes “No, Steve. Just the arm. I’m going with option two.”

Steve crossed his arms, “You know that was just a joke, right?” 

“Either you help me, Or I’ll put the damn thing back on myself. Now, go.” Bucky growled.

Steve shook his head, turned and left the bedroom. He could always call Tony after they realized they had no idea what they were doing.

Bucky yelled after him “And don’t forget the tools. There was a toolbox.”

“Got it. Don’t forget the tools” Steve said as the apartment door shut.

When Steve came back to the apartment, Bucky was asleep again. He still lie on his back and his blanket was shoved down around his waist. His bandaged chest reminding Steve how bad Bucky was less than 24 hours ago. Steve set the tools and arm down on a dresser, and pulled Bucky’s covers back up. He went to the kitchen to fix himself eggs and toast for breakfast, then returned to Bucky’s bedside. 

Steve was in the middle of reading Bucky’s arm schematics on a tablet that Tony gave him, when there was a soft knock at the apartment door. He opened the door to find Dr. Jones. She came in and checked Bucky with a Stark tech scanner that she used from a safe distance just inside the bedroom doorway. She wordlessly showed Steve some of the scan results, smiled and left. Bucky was recovering pretty fast, but he still had a ways to go.

Hours pass while Steve dozes in the chair. He is startled awake to see Bucky standing over him. Steve dodges out of the chair and Bucky stumbles back landing on his rear, sitting on the bed. 

Steve quickly stands as Bucky grabs his ribs, and breathes through his nose clearly in pain. 

“Why are you up?” Steve said rushing forward.

Haltingly, Bucky said between breaths “I just gotta take a leak…What is wrong with you?”

“Sorry, Sorry. You startled me.” Steve said moving in to help Bucky stand. Once on his feet, he pushed Steve away and made his way to the bathroom.

Coming out of the bathroom, Bucky paused leaning heavily on the door-jam. Steve moved in and took him by the arm and helped him make it back to the bed. This time Bucky let him help. As he sat on the bed Bucky looked over at the arm. 

“Hand it to me” Bucky said while Steve slowly lowered him to lie back on the bed. 

Steve retrieved the limp arm from the dresser “Are you hungry? You should eat.”

“No.” Bucky said, and looked into the arm’s open shoulder plate, running his thumb over the couplers that locked it into place on his shoulder socket. He studied it for a while, then drifted back to sleep.

Hours later, tools are scattered across the bed, while Bucky leans on pillows stacked against the headboard. 

“Come on Steve, hand me that thing with the handle” he said pointing.

“This thing?” Steve asked, holding up a soldering iron.

“No.” Bucky put his hand over his eyes again. “It wouldn’t have killed you to take a shop class. We need to bend this dented area back. That tool melts metal. I don’t want you near me with that.” He sighed. 

Steve could tell this was a loosing battle minutes after they began to sift through the pile of mystery tools. Bucky knew what the tools did, but he couldn’t really see into the arm socket. His broken ribs meant he couldn’t reach around and get any leverage. Steve sat back with a mirror from the bathroom in his hands, letting Bucky try to figure this out. 

“Okay, let’s try this again, hand me that tool with the red handle.” Bucky asked, pointing then holding out his hand.

Steve picked up the right one this time and handed it to Bucky. Holding the tool, Bucky moved it into the arm socket, but working with the reflection made his hand waiver as his brain tried to compensate for the reverse angle. 

“Steve, here. Hold it at this angle.” Then Bucky took another tool and tried to maneuver it into the socket while keeping his hand out of the light from the lamp next to the table.

There was a knock at the apartment door. Bucky scowled. “Ignore it.”

The knock came again. Steve hoped it was Tony and said “We should see who it is.” 

The door opened before they could say anything, and Steve turned to see Natasha striding into the bedroom.

“You should yell something, or tell people to wait, so we know you’re alive Rogers.” She said, smiling. Then she frowned “What are you two doing?” 

Bucky sighed “Help us. Well… help him.” he said “Take this.” he handed her the tool in his hand and picked up another one. 

Waving Steve back, Bucky angled Natasha’s hand into the socket. She said “You realize it’s going to take forever like this?”

“I’ve got time.” Bucky answered.

“Why isn’t Tony doing this?” She asked.

When Bucky scowled and didn’t answer, Steve said “Bucky wants to do it himself.”

She sat back and laughed “Is that what this is?”

Bucky threw his tool to the side and pushed Natasha and Steve off the bed. Steve just managed to save the mirror. Bucky didn’t push them hard enough to hurt, but hard enough that they knew he was mad. “Get out.” He growled.

“Buck” Steve started to say.

“OUT!” Bucky yelled, then threw the lamp at them. When they piled out of the room, Steve noticed the tool that Bucky threw was embedded at least eight inches into the wall.

Out in the living room Natasha sat on the couch. “Sorry, that was on me. I shouldn’t have laughed.”

“Yeah, that put him over the top. But, I don’t think we were getting anywhere.” Steve said sitting next to her. 

He looked at her for a second before continuing “He’s already frustrated. He wants the arm back on because it hurts, and obviously just because it‘s his arm. Also,…” Steve lowered his voice “he thinks Tony is trying to kill him, so he doesn‘t want his help.” 

“He thinks Tony is trying to kill him?” She asked in a surprised whisper. “Because of his parents?” 

“Yeah.” Steve sighed, and they both sat back and waited. Occasionally there was a smashing sound when Bucky lost his temper, and once Steve heard another tool hit the wall. Eventually Natasha turned on the TV, and they both watched a movie. 

During a commercial break, Steve said “I’m going to make popcorn.” It had become quiet in the guest bedroom. Steve wanted to check and see if Bucky wanted to come out, or give Tony a call. Instead, he saw Bucky standing in the doorway, still shirtless, leaning on the jam. He had the arm on. It had a few shoulder panels out of alignment, but it looked like it was working.

“Oh.” Steve said “I was coming to see if you wanted anything…. You got it back on.”

“Yeah.” Bucky said, pushing past Steve and turning into the bathroom. 

Steve was left staring at the closed door. He went back to make the popcorn, and could hear Bucky return to the bedroom. When he brought the popcorn to Natasha they just shrugged and watched the movie.

After the movie, Natasha left. She told Steve she would be back, and if he needed anything she was only feet away. She was staying at her tower apartment for the next few weeks. 

Steve puttered around the apartment. Trying to watch the news and read a book. He actually spent most of his time watching the bedroom door. There hadn’t been any noise since Bucky had gone back in. Steve guessed he was asleep. 

Finally after an hour, Steve gave up trying to read and decided to make an early supper. Hopefully Bucky would be hungry. He hadn’t wanted to eat earlier. Steve was in the kitchen checking the cabinets when he heard a thump.

He waited a second to see if Bucky was coming out, then went to investigate. The bedroom looked like someone had opened a toolbox and dumped them on the bed. There were tools all over the bed, some on the table next to the bed, and a few on the floor. Bucky was sitting propped up on he pillows with one of Tony’s tablets in his hands. In front of Bucky was a blown up hologram model of the cybernetic arm. The circuitry of the forearm was highlighted in yellow. 

“I just wanted to see if you were hungry.” Steve said, taking in the hologram. “What are you doing?”

“There is something wrong with the way the fingers are working.” Bucky said without looking up from the tablet. “I’m thinking something is wrong with the interface. It seems fine and the signal makes it from the fingers to the forearm, but something breaks down between there and ..” He waved vaguely at his head.

“Is this how you fixed it by yourself?” Steve was a little awed. He knew Bucky was smart, but this was more than ‘use a computer’ smart. This was ‘build a computer’ smart.

Steve must have sounded strange, because Bucky stopped what he was doing, and set down the tablet. Steve could see more schematics on there. They were the ones that interfaced with Bucky’s body in a way that Steve didn’t like to think about, the nervous system between Bucky’s brain and artificial shoulder.

Bucky looked Steve in the eyes “Yeah, after you took the mirror, I was looking up things on the tablet when I realized it could do this.” He waved at the hologram. “I was able to use the hologram like a big mirror. It went pretty smoothly after I got rolling.” 

“I’m impressed.” Steve said seriously “I’m not even sure what I’m looking at.” 

“What your looking at is the part of me that doesn’t work, highlighted in red, next to the part that does work in green.” Bucky said, pointing with his left hand. Steve was able to see that the first two fingers moved while the rest sort of moved slower if they moved at all.

“What’s all the yellow?” Steve asked.

“That’s the stuff I can’t tell if it’s working.” he said making a frustrated face.

“That’s a lot of yellow.” Steve said.

“Yeah, sometimes it seems like it’s working, then other times it doesn’t. It doesn’t make any sense.” Bucky shook his head. “And I know you want to get Tony in here. Just give me a little more time. I’ll get it narrowed down in a few more hours.”

“Oh, Okay.” Steve was going to say he wasn’t going to bring up Tony again but that would have been a blatant lie. “So, are you hungry?” he said instead.

“I could eat.” Bucky said. 

“You might give this stuff a break, let your subconscious mull it over for a while” Steve laughed.

“Okay?” Bucky eyed Steve.

“Get some rest, I’ll make something.” Steve said getting up.

Bucky pushed some tools away, clearing a path for his legs. “Help me get up without dumping all this stuff on the floor.” 

Steve quickly moved forward, “I haven’t made anything yet. It’ll take a while. Are you sure you don’t want to lie down?”

“I’ve been in this bed too long” Bucky said sliding his legs over the edge, while Steve helped him stand. “I need to get out of this room for a while.”

Bucky gingerly made his way to the kitchen while Steve hovered beside him. When Bucky waved away his offer of help Steve stayed close, just in case. Once there, Bucky took a seat at the counter, watching while Steve prepared them something to eat. He rummaged the cabinets, then boiled some linguini and heat up a jar of sauce. 

While waiting for things to cook, Steve asks “Why are those panels on your shoulder out of whack?” 

Bucky looks over at them and shrugs “They’re fine. I just couldn’t reach around to get them secured.”

Stirring the pasta Steve said “I would have helped.”

“You seemed pretty chummy with a certain redhead. I didn’t want to ruin your movie.” Bucky said flexing the fingers of his left hand. 

“No, It’s not what you think. We were out here worrying about you. You bonehead.” Steve smiled, “Could the unsecured panels cause what’s going on with your fingers?”

“I don‘t think so. They aren’t tied to the same system. The fingers route through the core” Bucky said “I’ll work on the loose plates after I figure out why the fingers aren‘t responding.” 

The pasta was ready and Steve dishes out two plates. Bucky eats fast, and focused. He mostly grunts to Steve’s attempts at small talk. Steve notices he hides his left hand in his lap the whole meal. Soon, the conversation dies.

After they eat, Bucky looks tired, but as soon as Steve gets him back to the room, he picks up where he left off trying to fix the fingers. Steve sits in the chair next to the bed. 

Bucky looks up from the tablet, “Are you just gonna sit and stare at me?“

“I want to help. Just tell me what to do?”

“How about you get us some beer?” Bucky smiled.

“Yuck it up. When I come back, I can help with the shoulder” Steve needed to go downstairs since he didn’t keep beer in his apartment. By the time he made it back, Bucky had the shoulder schematics up on the hologram and the tablet was showing the steps they needed to take.

Steve even noticed that the tools were not randomly strewn around the bed, like he previously thought. They were in rings from Bucky’s right hand. Put in order of frequency of use. When Steve opens a beer for Bucky he looks over the schematic and sees a lot of red around the back of the shoulder. 

“What’s the red?”

“That’s where the connections aren’t secured.” 

“So basically the back of your arm isn’t secured. You don’t think that has something to do with your fingers not working right?”

Bucky scowled “Sure it could… Okay. It probably does. But I couldn’t reach it, so I was trying to fix it in a way I could reach.”

Steve wanted to mention again that he could have asked for help. But after Bucky had the tantrum and threw Steve and Natasha out, his pride wouldn’t let him come back out and ask for help.

Steve moved closer to Bucky’s side and rubbed his hands together “What do you need me to do?” Steve asked

Bucky squinted at Steve dubiously “Watch me. Then do what I tell you to.” he sat on the bed with his back straight, and used a small skinny screwdriver and unfastened a latch on the front of his shoulder. 

“Now watch how it goes together.” He slowly refastened the connection, then turned and handed Steve the tools. “You have to do that, plus use this soldering tool to connect the housing here and here” he said while pointing to an area on the hologram. Steve settled onto the bed behind Bucky, rearranging some of the tools around him.

It looked simple enough, but once Steve started, he realized that the parts were really tiny and he wasn’t as precise with the soldering iron as he should be. He cringed when he saw a small yellow wire melt. Steve was glad he was behind Bucky or his face would have given him away. He tried blowing on it, and it burst into a tiny red flame.

Bucky craned his neck to look at Steve. “What are you doing back there. Stop whatever it is.” Bucky readjusted the view on the hologram to show a view of his actual arm

“Sorry sorry.” Steve was saying. “Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.” he said trying to put the tools back in Bucky’s hand.

“If you burn my one good hand, we are going to have some words Rogers.”

Steve realized he was trying to get Bucky to take the hot soldering iron, and stepped back off the bed holding it. “Where can I put it”

“Calm down, Steve. I burned one of those things before I got the hang of it.” he said “Just tell me I’m not still on fire.”

“No. No that’s out.”

“Okay you have eight more to go. Just be more careful on the next one.” 

Steve was nervous but better on the next connection. On the fourth one something sparked, Bucky gasped, and jerked making Steve melt another wire. By the last one, Steve was a sweaty mess, and Bucky laughed when he finally saw him.

“Too bad the beer doesn’t do anything for you. You look like you could use one.” Bucky stood up slowly and rotated his shoulder, then flexed his fingers. “It looks like you were right.” he said with a laugh “The fingers are working much better. They still need to be tweaked, but connecting the back half has seated the whole arm more securely. The core must have been loose.” he reached over and changed the hologram again ”Look, most of the bad connections are now yellow”

Steve looked at him dubiously, “I thought yellow meant you couldn’t tell if they were working.”

“Well that’s a lot better than definitely not working.” he said smiling “now we isolate the problem with each of the fingers and we’re done.”

“Great” Steve said also smiling.

By three in the morning, the smiles were gone, and they were both tired and surly. Bucky was lying back on the pile of pillows, a permanent frown on his face. Both of them were staring at the hologram and tablet for over fifteen minutes with no results. Bucky’s head bobbed as he fought sleep.

Steve stood and stretched “That’s enough. We can pick this up tomorrow.” He began to pack the tools back into the toolbox, glancing over expecting a fight. 

Bucky was propped up on a pile of pillows, and slid down trying to get comfortable. Steve came over to help adjust and remove pillows. He threw the extra pillows into the chair next to the bed.

“Pinkies are over rated.” Bucky grumbled as he made himself comfortable, his cybernetic arm thrown over his head. Steve could tell from his breathing he was asleep before Steve turned out the light.

Returning to the kitchen to clean up, Steve was putting the pans into the dishwasher when he heard a weird noise. He set the pan down and went to the bedroom to see if Bucky needed him. Bucky was asleep in bed with his arms at his sides, and his whole body was rigid. His Breathing was loud and he started growling through gritted teeth, his eyes half open and rolled up in his head.

Steve went to the side of the bed. “Hey, Bucky…” he started to say when Bucky slammed his metal fist into Steve’s face, sending Steve into the side table breaking it and spilling the toolbox across the floor. 

In the few seconds it took Steve to get his bearings, Bucky rolled out of bed and stumbled out down the hall into the living room. Steve quickly followed, stepping around tools and dashing down the hall. Bucky was struggling with the apartment door, but couldn’t get it open. As Steve came into the living room, Bucky rammed the door with his shoulder, splintering the frame, and stumbling into the hallway. 

Steve followed in his wake. “Hey Buddy, it was just a dream. Come on Bucky, you‘re safe.” Steve tried to reason with him. The closer Steve got the more effort Bucky took into trying to get away. Finally Steve stopped, and Bucky stopped too. He looked around trying to get his bearings. Steve saw the look in Bucky’s face and he wasn’t even sure if he was awake, or still caught in a dream. 

Nearby the elevator made a noise. Bucky startled and was on the run again, holding onto the wall for support. Steve realized too late that Bucky was approaching the stairwell. Bucky saw it, dashed the last few feet and ran down the stairs. Steve followed, and saw Bucky burst out the door a few floors below. Jumping the remaining stairs, Steve knew this had the potential for something very, very bad. 

They were on Bruce Banner’s floor. Steve prayed he wasn’t home, but luck would have it that he was up watching a movie when Bucky shoved his way into Bruce’s living room. Steve tackled Bucky hoping he didn’t break any more bones. Surprised, Bruce jumped up and stood by his couch watching the scene in front of him. Pinned on his stomach, Bucky growled and made pained noises, blindly reaching over his shoulder behind him to get a fistful of Steve. The metal hand hurt, but he couldn’t really get Steve off. 

“Bucky, wake up!” Steve hissed in his ear.

Bruce looked at Steve and said “Good luck with that” and walked back to his bedroom and locked the door. Gasping and kicking, Bucky tried to get out of Steve’s grip, while Steve tried to calm him. Neither noticed Tony right behind them in the Iron Man suit. 

Tony cleared his throat “Bruce said you two were having a problem” 

“Not now, Tony. Please just go.” Steve begged, pinning Bucky to the ground while he writhed under him.

“Sure thing. But, ease up Steve. He’s awake. You should stop trying to crush his ribcage now.” Tony said while walking away.

Steve jumped up, crouching next to Bucky with his hands hovering over Bucky’s back. “Sorry, sorry. Are you Okay?” he asked.

“Where are we?” Bucky said while panting and lying face down on the floor, his hands were now at his sides pushing at the ground. 

“You’re just in another apartment. Are you okay? How are your ribs?” Steve said, purposefully neglecting to mention whose apartment, while reaching out and helping Bucky get to his feet.

Bucky looked around the room in a daze “I think I need to sit down.” he said.

“Sure,” Steve pulled up a chair. “But, once you get your bearings we really should get back.” Steve said uneasily.


End file.
